Living in DREAD
by SilvorMoon
Summary: Tamers AU. Takato was an ordinary boy, until the day a mysterious red-haired girl ran into his life and left him with with an even more mysterious egg. Now he may never be safe again...
1. It Begins with an Egg

**_Disclaimer: Digimon Tamers_** does not belong to me in any way, shape, or form. None of these characters belong to me. 

_**Notes:** This is an AU fic. It takes place in an alternative version of Japan, in the fictional city of Shiinatoshi. Mostly it looks like our world, except, well... you'll see._

**It Begins With An Egg**

  


**By: SilvorMoon**

The dragon raised its horn-encrusted head, its sinewy neck tracing a graceful curve against the sky. Wings outstretched, it flashed its claws at the iron-clad warrior who stared bravely back at it, sword raised in challenge. From between the dragon's dagger like teeth, a bloom of flame issued forth, snaking forward to envelop the helpless challenger... 

...and Takato's pencil broke. He made a noise of frustration - the picture had been coming along so _well_, too. He sighed and began rummaging through his pencil box for his sharpener. It wasn't an easy task. The pencil box was stuffed not only with pencils of the everyday No. 2 type, but dozens of colored pencils in every shade the rainbow had to offer, and then some. There were at least three erasers, not including a handful of the multicolored ones that came in funny shapes that teachers handed out as prizes, and which seemed nearly incapable of actually erasing anything and tended to go to pieces if anyone tried. There was also a mini-ruler, a few stencils, some stickers, a rubber stamp (but no ink for it), two highlighters (one yellow, one pink), a bottle of white-out, three colored rocks that he'd thought were pretty at the time he'd found them, and, for no reason at all, a very battered keychain in the shape of a frog. And a pencil sharpener. Somewhere. 

"Matsuda, are you paying attention?" 

Takato sat up straight. "Yes, ma'am!" 

The teacher gave him a narrow look. She was widely regarded as being one of the best teachers in the school. She wasn't, though - actually, she hated teaching and wasn't very fond of children, either. She was, however, the _strictest_ teacher in the school, and any student under her care learned quickly to teach themselves or suffer the consequences. 

"All right, then," she said. "Would you like to tell me what it is we're discussing today?" 

"Umm..." Takato dredged his brain. He had been more interested in drawing in his notebook than paying attention to the lecture, which had been deadly boring, from his perspective. Fortunately for him, he'd paid attention long enough to at least learn what he was being bored about. "Cyberspace! We're talking about the history of Cyberspace!" 

The teacher looked a little put out. "All right. Just don't let me catch you drawing during a lecture again. Put those silly pictures away and pay attention." 

"Yes, ma'am," said Takato. 

Feeling as disgruntled as his teacher looked, Takato flipped his notebook to a clean page and prepared to at least look like he was taking notes on the lecture. Deep down, he supposed he could understand why the teacher was frustrated with him. Most of the students in the class were fascinated by the idea of computers and Cyberspace - it was one of the few subjects where the teacher could actually hold their interest by means other than the threat of punishment. Even now, most of the class had their gaze fixed on the blackboard, where the teacher was writing out key points. 

"... discovered a means of converting physical matter to data," she was saying. "Experiments were conducted on animals almost immediately, but it wasn't until almost ten years later that the first human was allowed to enter a purely virtual environment." 

Takato yawned. He had been to the Cyberspace a few times before, when he was younger, and hadn't been particularly thrilled by it. It was, for the most part, rather like visiting a theme park - lots of spectacular visuals, but once you got used to it, it was no different than going to a regular park, except parks were easier to get to and you didn't need government clearance to go in. If you had a knack for computers, you could alter Cyberspace to suit your preferences, but the software to do so was still new and not particularly user-friendly, and Takato had never gotten the hang of it. 

_Maybe if I could, things would be different. I'd like to make myself a fantasy world with real dragons..._

His mind continued to wander as the teacher lectured on about the recent laws passed to control human traffic in and out of Cyberspace. He was rather more interested in the girl who was sitting two chairs up from him. Her name was Juri Katou, and she was, in his considered opinion, the most likeable girl in school. She had always been nice to him, even when other girls teased him for being a dreamer and for always being called on the carpet by the teacher. She'd never seemed to mind that he wasn't as cool or athletic as some of the other boys in class, and that endeared her to him. It didn't hurt that she was quite pretty, too. At the moment, she seemed even less interested in the lecture than Takato was, and was occupying herself by gazing dreamily out the window. After a moment, she noticed Takato watching her, and she flashed him a smile. Takato blushed and looked back down at his notebook. 

The teacher was still talking. "... due to concern over the proliferation of Cyphers. Can anyone tell me what a Cypher is?" 

"A Cyber-person," one student piped up. 

"Could you be more specific?" 

"Umm... they're born in Cyberspace, aren't they?" asked a girl timidly. 

"Conceived," said a boy, prompting snickers from other members of the class. The teacher ignored it. 

"Sometimes," she said. "Sometimes they happen when a pregnant mother enters the Cyberspace. Either way, the child is born with unusual properties." 

"You can program them," someone piped up. "Like a computer, only they're people." 

"I heard if you cut a piece of them off, it grows back. Like a starfish," another student said. 

The teacher nodded. "These new measures have been put in place while the government studies the causes of these Cyphers and their natures. Does anyone here know any Cyphers?" 

A few hands went up, here and there. Takato noticed that Juri's hand was among them. She didn't look too pleased by the fact, and he didn't blame her. Cyphers were a relatively new phenomenon - they'd only started getting attention in the last ten years or so, as people started realizing that there _were_ such things. They still weren't widely trusted, and many people actively feared them. Their habit of being able to pop into Cyberspace at will and reappear wherever they wanted to be came with all kinds of disturbing possibilities. 

At last, mercifully, the bell rang, and the class gathered up their things and began filing out the door. Takato hurriedly stuffed his belongings into his backpack and zipped it as shut as he could get it (the corner of a notebook was poking stubbornly out into the open, and nothing Takato did could make it go back in), and then hurried out of the room into the crowded hallway. He was met at the doorway by his two best friends, Hirokazu and Kenta. 

"Hey man, what took ya?" Hirokazu asked. 

"This," answered Takato, waving his backpack. The movement jogged the zipper loose a few more inches, threatening to spill papers and books in all directions. 

"Careful!" said Kenta, ducking as the pack swung by and nearly knocked his glasses off. 

"Sorry," said Takato, chagrined. 

"So, you all ready for tonight?" asked Hirokazu. 

"Not just yet," said Takato. 

"Me neither," added Kenta guiltily. "I still haven't finished packing." 

Hirokazu shot his friends a stern glare. "What good are you? I got through all the bother of convincing my mom to let me have a sleepover on my birthday and you can't even bother to pack for it. Do you have any idea how _hard_ it was to convince her to let you come over on a school night? I'm going to have to be on my best behavior for the rest of the _year_." 

"You won't last that long," Takato said. "You'd drop dead before you'd behave that long." 

"Very funny," said Hirokazu. "Too bad it's true." 

"Don't worry," Takato assured him. "I'm not going to be late. I've just got to throw a few more things in my bag. You know, toothpaste and stuff." 

"Same here," said Kenta. "It's a good thing we didn't get much homework today." 

"Any time we don't get much homework is good!" said Hirokazu. "Anyway, I'll see you guys tonight, huh? I told Mom I'd clean my room up some before you got there, and, well..." 

Takato laughed. "And you're telling _us_ off for not being ready!" 

"So I've got some preparing to do! So sue me," said Hirokazu. "Anyway, I've gotta jam. See you tonight!" 

He waved and sprinted off. 

"Guess I'd better go, too," said Kenta. "Unless you want me to walk with you a ways?" 

"Nah," said Takato. He had just noticed Juri was lingering by the water fountain, not doing anything in particular and glancing at him from time to time. "I think I can find my way, thanks. See you tonight, huh?" 

"Okay! See you!" 

Takato waited a while, just to make sure Kenta was well and truly on his way. He didn't mind if Kenta saw him talking to Juri - not exactly. It was just that Kenta would naturally tell Hirokazu, in all innocence, and Hirokazu would spend the rest of the month, if not the year (provided he survived behaving all that time) teasing the daylights out of him about his new "girlfriend". 

"Not like there's anything wrong with talking to a girl," Takato muttered. After all, a long day at school made you thirsty, and if he wanted a drink of water and just happened to bump into a friend at the water fountain... 

"Hi, Takato!" said Juri. "Were you having a nice talk? I wanted to come over and say hi, but I hate to interrupt..." 

"Nah, we were just killing time," said Takato. "I'm going over to Hirokazu's later tonight for a sleepover party. It's his birthday." 

"Oh, that will be fun!" she said. 

"Yeah," said Takato. He suddenly found himself running low on conversational topics and scrambled around for something to talk about. "So, ah... pretty boring lesson today, huh?" 

"Definitely," she said. "I'm not that big on computers, really. I can never get them to do what I want." 

"Yeah, same here. I like them for playing video games and stuff, but that's about it." 

"I've noticed you'd rather use pencil and paper," she said. "I really liked those pictures you were drawing." 

"Really?" he asked, brightening. "I didn't know you noticed." 

"Oh, well," she said, coloring slightly. "I always liked fantasy things. You know, dragons and princesses and magic... I always wanted to be a princess and get rescued from a dragon." 

Takato grinned a little. "I always wanted a dragon. Even when I was a little kid, I wanted a dragon for a pet. You know, a little one." 

Juri giggled. "I'll bet your parents wouldn't like that very much." 

Takato laughed. Then, seized by an idea, he set down his backpack and yanked at the zipper, freeing his notebook from its confines. With a triumphant smile, he brought out the picture he'd been working on. 

"Do you want this?" he asked. "I mean, it's not exactly finished, but..." 

Juri accepted the picture and eyed it thoughtfully. A spray of half-drawn flames hovered over the roughly outlined knight, whose sword and shield were still only suggestions etched in faint graphite marks. 

"I don't mind that it's not finished," she said. "I get to decide for myself who wins. Maybe neither one. Maybe they'll work it out and be friends." 

"I hadn't thought of that," said Takato. "They can be friends, and he can keep the dragon as a pet." 

Juri laughed, and Takato smiled. He liked being able to make Juri laugh. 

"I ought to do something for you," said Juri, as she carefully tucked the drawing into one of her own notebooks. "I know! Would you like to come over for a milkshake? My treat." 

"That'd be great," said Takato. 

"Then let's go!" she said happily. She trotted a few paces up the hallway, then stopped and doubled back. She grabbed his hand and began pulling him along, and he was only too happy to follow.

* * *

The sun was beginning to set, turning the smoky city air the color of fire. It gave the world a dreamy feel, like an old sepia-toned photograph. It suited Takato's mood as he walked slowly home, smiling softly. It was, he thought, a very good evening to be alive. His short visit with Juri at her family's restaurant - he was already beginning to think of the meeting as a date - had gone off without a hitch. They had spent over an hour sipping milkshakes and chatting about school and hobbies, finding common ground. The afternoon had ended with an invitation for Takato to drop in again sometime - soon. He was already making plans for that. Maybe next time he would treat her to dinner or an ice cream or something. It would be really something if he was the first boy in his class to have a real girlfriend! And to top it all off, he was still going to Hirokazu's birthday party tonight, a prospect will all kinds of interesting possibilities. As far as he was concerned, all was right with the world. 

He was so wrapped up in his daydreaming that he missed the sound. It was not the kind of thing that he would have paid much attention to at the best of time, just a light patter of footsteps, too quiet to be heard over the city noises unless he'd really been listening. It wasn't until he turned down an alley - a narrow passage between two buildings that offered a shortcut back to his home - that he finally realized that not only was someone running up the pavement, but they were gaining on him in a hurry. The street he was traveling was seldom used, which was one of the reasons he favored it, and he couldn't recall having ever met anyone there before. He turned around, mildly curious. 

Rushing up the street behind him was a girl. She appeared to be about his age, slender and pale-skinned, with flaming red hair pulled back in an untidy ponytail. She was dressed in ragged sneakers, a nondescript T-shirt, and torn blue jeans, all of which had seen better days. The shoes were caked with dirt, and the knees of her jeans were stained with blood, with rips showing that her knees were in similar shape. She was running as fast as she could - a speed which probably would have been a great deal faster, except that she was carrying something in a bundle, clutched tightly to her chest. 

_A baby?_ Takato wondered. 

He didn't get much time to wonder about it. The girl continued to run, straight at him, with her head half-turned as if she expected someone to be running up behind her any second now. Apparently she was far more worried about who might be behind her than what was in front of her, because she paid no attention to the fact that Takato was directly in her way. Takato tried to move, but it was too late, and she slammed into him with a force that nearly threw him off his feet. He staggered and regained his balance, but the girl, her arms occupied with the bundle she was carrying, couldn't steady herself, and she fell hard on the pavement. The bundle slipped out of her arms and rolled away behind some trash cans. 

"Ow!" she said. "Dammit!" 

Takato walked over to her and bent to help her up. "Hey, are you okay?" 

The girl ignored him. Instead, she began scrambling around on the ground, desperately searching for whatever it was she'd dropped. 

"Don't you be broken, don't you _dare_ be broken..." she muttered. 

"It's over there," said Takato, waving toward the trash cans. 

He peered curiously at the object. Contrary to his initial thought, it was not a baby - in fact, he doubted now that it was even alive. The shape covered by the ragged cloths was smooth and round, about the size and shape of a small watermelon. The girl looked up, sighted it, and made a grab for it. She felt it carefully, apparently checking to make sure it was not damaged. Assured that it was not, she looked up at Takato with a furious expression. For the first time, he saw her eyes. They were pale violet, like purple flames, and just now, they were blazing. 

"Why don't you look where you're going?" she demanded. 

"I wasn't going anywhere. I was just standing here. You ran into me," he said. 

"Humph," she said. She began trying to get up while holding on to her bundle at the same time. "Don't you know better than to get in people's way? If somebody's coming, you've gotta be pretty stupid to just stand there and let them run you over." 

"Sorry," said Takato. "I didn't - I mean, I didn't mean to make you - um, are you okay?" 

"Never mind that," she snapped. She glanced in the direction she had come, and then looked back at Takato. "You're wasting my time. Listen, kid - do me a favor." 

"Um, sure," Takato said. He had the feeling he was somehow out of his depth, but it _was_ sort of his fault she had fallen, so he figured he owed her something. 

Much to his surprise, she shoved the bunch of cloths into his arms. 

"Hold on to that," she said. "Keep it safe. Don't let _anyone_ see it." 

"But-" 

"Do it! I'll come back for it later. If anything happens to it, I'll take it out of your hide. Got it?" 

"But what-?" 

"Just do what I say!" 

"All right, all right!" said Takato. "How are you going to find me again, though? You don't even know me... and I don't know you..." 

"That doesn't matter. I'll be able to find _it_. _You_ don't matter." She glanced back up the street again. "I have to go. Remember, if anyone asks, _you never saw me_, got it?" 

Before Takato could react, the girl shoved him roughly out of the way and started sprinting up the street again. She could move a lot faster, he noted, now that she was no longer burdened with the whatever-it-was. While he was still standing and staring blankly at her retreating figure, a golden blur seemed to flash by. When it passed, she was gone. 

"What the heck?" he said aloud. 

There were no answers. He stood there a moment, pondering. 

_She can't have been real. She's not human. She's a Cypher or something,_ he thought wildly._But why would a Cypher be running away from anyone? Why couldn't she just disappear earlier?_

He shook his head. Just thinking about it made his head hurt. Searching for something that made some modicum of sense, he latched onto the one order the girl had given him that he could currently comply with: to keep the mysterious packet safe. He glanced at his backpack, which he'd dropped when the girl had collided with him, and was now lying on its back with its insides spilled out across the pavement. Oh, well, that stuff had never fit properly in there, anyway. He scooped up his books and folders, piled them into a neat stack, and carefully shoved his new burden inside. It fit far more perfectly than the schoolbooks had. He scooped them up and prepared to start walking home again. 

He had barely made it a block before he heard the sound of footsteps behind him again. This time he had the sense to stop and try to get out of the way. The last thing he needed was for any more strange girls to collide with him and leave him with any more peculiar objects. For one thing, his backpack was full now, and he couldn't carry anything else. 

"Hey! You there! Wait a minute!" 

The voice was adult, male, and authoritative. Takato couldn't have disobeyed it even if he'd wanted to. Very slowly, he turned around to see who was approaching him. 

There were three men running up the sidewalk. All of them were wearing dark glasses and uniforms, making Takato think of policemen, or perhaps security guards. Their chests and shoulders were marked with assorted patches and bars that gave them an official look of the kind that made Takato feel like he must have done something wrong just to have them talk to him. 

"You there," said the man in the lead. He was wearing a cap as well as the uniform, and his nose had the misshapen look that came from being broken multiple times. When he talked, Takato noted the glint of at least one gold tooth. Probably more. "You, boy - did you see a girl go by?" 

"Uhh...." said Takato. "About my age? With red hair? Carrying something?" 

"Yes, that's her," said another of the... guards? Was that what they were? "Which way did she go?" 

"That way," said Takato. He had no idea which way she was going now, but he took the precaution of pointing in a direction completely different from the way she'd actually been going before she vanished. 

"Right. Thanks, kid," said the guard. "All right, let's move!" 

The men rushed off again. Takato watched them, wondering if he'd done the right thing. 

_She's a criminal,_ he told himself. _She's - she's a thief or something, and I'm carrying stolen goods!_

It crossed his mind that maybe he could catch up to the guards and tell them what happened after all - but no, they were already gone out of sight. Besides, they might be suspicious enough of him to lock him up, too. Anyway, something in him said he had to trust the girl. It was a lot easier, somehow, to trust a girl his age with ragged jeans and muddy sneakers than a troop of strange men in dark uniforms. 

Above his head, he heard a strange sound. At the moment, he was so keyed up, he probably would have heard a pin being dropped. This sound was like a bird's call, but not like one he'd ever heard. Half-dreading what he might see _this_ time, Takato looked up at the sky. He saw only the purple-tinted clouds floating by, and the distant silver spark that marked a plane in the distance. Then, as his eyes fell back to earth, he caught a glimpse of a human-shaped shadow perched on a roof. It had an untidy ponytail in back. As Takato stared up at her, she flashed him the "OK" sign at him. Then she turned and ducked out of sight. Takato stood there a moment, waiting to see if she was going to come back down and possibly take her bundle back. When she showed no signs of doing so, he sighed and began walking slowly up the street again. 

"What a weird day," he muttered.

* * *

Upon arriving home, the first thing Takato did was run upstairs to his room. Of course, that was what he usually did every day after coming home from school. The lower floor of his home was occupied by his parents' bakery, and hanging around down there too much normally resulted in his being put to work minding the cash register. He didn't mind that too much, not really - he was friends with most of the local customers, and sometimes he could sneak a cookie while his parents weren't looking. Today, though, his mind was occupied completely with the mysterious object stowed away in his backpack. He vaulted up the stairs three at a time, kicked open his door, and threw all his notebooks onto his desk. A few of them slid off, hit the floor, and burst open, spewing papers across his floor, but he was too preoccupied to care. With a great deal more caution, he set his backpack down in the middle of the rug and undid the zippers completely, until the pack fell open on the floor like the two halves of a clam. In the center, like a pearl, was a grubby ball of white rags. Takato poked it with a cautious fingertip. 

"I don't _think_ I'll break it," he said. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to have a look. I mean, she told me to take care of it, and I can't really take care of it if I don't even know what it is... and she never told me I couldn't look at it." 

Almost of their own accord, his hands went out to start unraveling the cloths. They were wrapped around in so many layers and in so many different directions that it was like untying a knot. At last, Takato was able to loosen them, and they began to fall away. With his pulse pounding in his throat, he undid the final folds and was able to view the treasure within. 

It was an egg. It had to be an egg, because there was nothing else that looked and felt so much like an egg except an egg... but... but it couldn't be. It was larger than a football - larger even than a soccer ball. The shell was mottled in brilliant sunset colors ranging from crimson to goldenrod to pure white. The colors were so vivid they almost glowed, and Takato, artist that he was, could do nothing for a few moments but stare at it. Reverently, he ran a hand over its smooth surface. It was warm, as if it had been sitting by a fire... or as if it were alive. He set both his hands on it - and then jerked them quickly away again. For a moment, he thought he'd felt something moving in there. 

"But that's crazy," he said aloud. "There's nothing in the world that hatches out of an egg like this..." 

_Maybe it's a dragon,_ he thought, and laughed nervously. 

"This is getting unreal," he said aloud. He laid his hand on the egg again, cautiously. It wasn't moving, but it _was_ still warm, independently of the temperature in his room, which was still air- conditioned against the warmth of early September. "Whatever it is, there's _something_ alive in there, and I guess it's up to me to take care of it. Maybe I can make it a nest or something." 

He picked up the cloth wrappings, intending to see if he could work them into a comfortable resting place for his new egg. As he did so, something clattered to the floor. It bounced on the carpet a few times before settling down next to his left foot. He picked it up for a closer look. It looked a bit like a digital stopwatch, or one of those virtual pets that had been all the rage a few years back. Its exact nature, though, was impossible to determine, as its screen was frustratingly blank. Prodding at its buttons elicited no response, nor did a bit of careful shaking and banging. Turning it over revealed that not only was there no place to put in any batteries, there didn't even seem to be any screws holding it together. A closer inspection didn't even turn up any seams where it had been joined. The whole thing looked less as if it had been made and more as if it had simply come into being of its own accord. 

"I wonder what this gizmo is?" he said, prodding it a few more times. It didn't even beep at him. "Oh, well. It's probably important, whatever it is." 

There was a small strap on the end of the device, suitable for affixing to a keychain, so he attached it to belt loop of his jeans, thinking it would be less likely to get lost in the chaos of his room that way. Leaving it lying around anywhere was just asking to have it buried in stray sheets of drawing paper and old comic books. Once it was safe and secure, he went back to admiring his egg, piling up the cloths in a corner, along with a couple of pillows and some dirty laundry for good measure, to make a nest. Even after it was comfortably settled in, he continued to kneel next to it, prodding the folds of cloth and adjusting the pillows ever-so-slightly, just to have something to do. He gently stroked the egg's smooth shell. 

"Hello in there," he said softly. "Can you hear me? My name's Takato. I'm going to take really good care of you, so don't you worry. I'll be right here for you, and when you hatch..." 

He trailed off. Someone was calling his name. 

"Takato!" his mother shouted. "It's almost seven! Are you finished packing yet?" 

"Packing?" he repeated blankly. Then it came back to him in a flash: Hirokazu's party! He was expected to be on his friend's doorstep within the next half-hour, and he hadn't so much as packed a pair of clean socks. 

"I'm almost done!" he called back. 

Hastily, he grabbed his duffel bag and started haphazardly shoving in an assortment of clothes, his hairbrush, toothbrush, his pajamas, and whatever else it occurred to him that he might want. As he was digging his sleeping bag out of the closet, he took a long look at his egg. He didn't want to leave it behind. It wasn't just a matter of emotional attachment, though he had already started thinking possessively of it as _his_ egg (the red-headed girl was already starting to seem more like a dream than anything). He was simply worried about the practical concerns of leaving it alone for any length of time. What if his mother decided to clean his room while he was gone, and she found it and threw it out? What if it got cold in the night and froze? What if hatched and rampaged around his room? Even worse, what if it sneaked out of the house and got lost? Or... what if it died while he was away? 

"Well, egg," he said. "It looks like you're going to your first party, and it's not even your birthday, yet." 

Very carefully, he tucked the egg into his sleeping bag and wrapped it up. It worked quite well; the straps that held the bag in its roll fit around the ends, and the egg in its layers of padding showed as nothing more than a slight bulge, unnoticeable to anyone who didn't know it was there. Even if he dropped it, it was unlikely to suffer any damage. It was probably safer now than it had been in its covering of rags. Even so, he carried it his destination with great care, and resisted the temptation to stop every few blocks to unroll it and make sure it was all right. 

"Hey, man, what took you?" asked Hirokazu. He was on the front step, leaning out the door of his house as he kept watch for his friend. 

"Oh, you know, just stuff," said Takato. 

"Well, we started the party without you. Haul your stuff inside and grab some pizza before it's all gone." 

At the mention of pizza, Takato's stomach growled. He'd had a milkshake only a few hours before, but taking care of his egg had burned up a certain amount of energy, and now he was ravenous. 

"You'd _better_ not eat it all!" he said. 

Hirokazu glanced inside. "Oops, too late. Kenta just got the last slice!" 

"Hey, no fair!" 

"Psyche!" Hirokazu grinned wickedly. "There's still two boxes left. Just hurry it up already, would ya?" 

Takato hurried. He followed Hirokazu through the front door, and then up the steps that led to his friend's room. The door was shut, but he could hear noise inside, as a stereo blared out Hirokazu's conception of music - loud, bouncy, and relatively meaningless. Hirokazu flung open the door, apparently not caring that it rebounded with a bang and nearly smacked his follower across the face. Takato dodged it and sized up the situation. The room was already in a state of advanced chaos, but then, that was normal for Hirokazu. There was a heap of movies piled up on the bed, along with a soccer ball and a pile of laundry that might eventually find its way to a hamper. A television set displayed a background for a video game with the word "PAUSED" in the middle of the screen. There was indeed pizza inside, and a few bags of potato chips, and a platter of chocolate cupcakes. Takato grinned a little as he recognized them - they'd come from his bakery. As he piled his belongings in a corner, he bent down and snatched one. 

"Hey! No fair eating dessert now!" Kenta protested. 

"Ih ish shoph air," said Takato through a mouthful of cake. He swallowed and tried again. "It is so fair. I made 'em, I get to eat 'em." 

"Don't complain," said Hirokazu, grabbing a fresh piece of pizza. "We're gonna eat it all, anyway. What difference does it make what order we do it in?" 

"Good point," said Kenta. He grabbed a cupcake from the platter and popped it into his mouth whole. "I like cupcakes. You can eat them and still have your hands free for video games." 

"I'm still going to beat you!" Hirokazu said. 

He snatched up the controller and pressed the START button. The game unpaused, and his video game proxy proceeded to pound the daylights out of Kenta's avatar. 

"Hey, no fair!" Kenta wailed, scrambling in vain for the controller. 

Takato laughed. "That's cheating!" 

"Oh, yeah? Think you could do better?" 

"Yeah!" 

"All right, Chumly! Do your worst!" 

"You mean my best, right?" 

"Nah, I mean worst. I'm no good at this game, and I need all the help I can get!" 

The next few hours passed uneventfully. The boys took turns at the video game until it lost its appeal, at which point they opted to watch a few movies and finish off the last of the now-cold pizza (the cupcakes had long since vanished). Hirokazu attempted to frighten his cohorts with ghost stories, without very much success. 

"...as she slowly climbed the stairs, a ghastly sound filled the air..." 

"Did it sound anything like your singing?" asked Takato. 

Hirokazu glared. "No. Now, pay attention. Where was I?" 

"Stairs. Ghastly sound," Kenta prompted. 

"Oh, yeah. So. A ghastly sound filled the air. She looked up, and in front of her, she saw..." 

"I hammer!" Kenta piped up. 

Hirokazu glared at him. "You _what_?" 

"She saw, I hammer. It was a joke." 

"Oh, geez," said Hirokazu. "If you've gotta make fun of the story, at least do a good job of it. Now, as I was saying, she looked up and saw a ghostly glowing shape in front of her. Very slowly, it glided down the stairs, coming closer and closer to her. She stared. She couldn't move. As it drew nearer, it reached out a spectral hand..." 

"Let me guess," said Takato. "It was the ghost of her dead husband, and he strangled her just like she did to him five years ago." 

Hirokazu stared at him. "How did you know?" 

"I saw that movie last week," answered Takato with a shrug. "Didn't think it was that scary, really." 

Kenta laughed. "He sure showed you!" 

"Shut up! He did not!" said Hirokazu. 

"I'd say he did." 

"Well, he didn't." 

"Did so!" 

"Did too!" 

Takato stifled the urge to laugh. Watching his two best friends argue was a never ending source of amusement. He ducked as Hirokazu pitched a stray pillow at Kenta, who almost managed to dodge it. He threw it back, but his aim was bad, and instead of hitting its intended target, it pinwheeled wildly and smacked Takato instead. Takato was surprised enough by this unexpected attack that he lost his balance and fell over, landing on his rolled-up sleeping bag. His elbow came down on something that crunched. Takato's face went white as he forced himself to look down to see what he'd landed on. 

"Hey, what's your problem?" asked Hirokazu. 

Takato finally managed to get his gaze to the floor. He appeared to have landed on a small bag of potato chips that had somehow migrated over to his things. He forced a laugh. 

"Heh, I heard something crunch and thought for a minute I'd broken something. You know, like my arm." 

Hirokazu laughed. "Even _you_ aren't that weak, Takato." 

"I know. Ha ha ha!" Takato did his best to shrug off his momentary unease. His eyes strayed to the sleeping bag. If he'd broken the egg.... 

"Would you all keep it quiet up there?" That was the sound of Hirokazu's mother shouting. "Some of us are trying to get some sleep - and you boys have school tomorrow!" 

"No problem," Hirokazu muttered. "We'll just sleep at school... like we usually do." More loudly, he said, "Okay, Mom! We're going to sleep now!" 

"Do we have to?" asked Kenta woefully. 

"Nah, 'course not," his friend replied. "We've just got to be quiet now, so Mom doesn't hear us." 

"What are we going to do that's quiet?" asked Takato. 

"Watch TV, duh!" Hirokazu replied. "We've just gotta do it with the volume turned low. Hey, maybe there'll be a monster movie!" 

He walked over to the TV (there had once been a remote, but it had been destroyed in a minor accident over the summer, involving a very boring rainy Sunday and a book called _101 Science Projects to do With Electricity_) and turned it on. It immediately flashed an image from a romance movie, with a doe-eyed young woman gazing up at a craggy-featured shirtless man while violins wailed plaintive melodies. The boys threw popcorn at the screen. 

"There's gotta be something better on than that!" Hirokazu muttered. 

He began pushing buttons, flipping past an assortment of game shows, dramas, old movies, and other late-night programming. 

"Ooh, look, a police movie," said Kenta. "That could be fun." 

"That's not a police movie, dummy, that's the news," Hirokazu replied. "Nuts. News is almost as boring as school... hey, what the?" 

Now all three boys were staring, riveted, at the screen. It was displaying an image of Takato's home, illuminated by the flashing lights of police cars. The camera panned to an image of his father, who showed signs of a black eye, and blood still trickled from a split lip. 

"Turn the volume up!" Takato commanded. 

This was no time for worrying about what his parents would say. Hirokazu did as he was told. 

"...broke into their home at approximately eight-forty-five tonight," the reporter was saying. "No items have yet been reported missing, but the upstairs rooms of the residence have been ransacked." 

The screen shifted to show an image of Takato's room. It had been untidy when he'd left it, but that was nothing compared to the way it looked now. The covers had been ripped from his bed, the drawers yanked from his dresser, the books thrown from their shelves, and the clothing and boxes in his closet were strewn around the room. 

"The intruders were intercepted by Mr. Matsuda, who sustained minor injuries attempting to drive them off. The fact that nothing was stolen leads authorities to believe that they were looking for something specific, and were either unable to find it, or were deterred by their encounter with Mr. Matsuda. Sir, were you able to get a good look at the robbers?" 

"Yes, I was," said Takato's father. "The one who hit me - I saw him. I'll never forget his face - he had a crooked nose, like it had been broken. Oh, and he had gold teeth. Very tough customer." 

Takato stared, recognizing his father's description of the "policeman" who had questioned him earlier. 

_He knows! He knows I've got the egg, and he went looking for me. If I hadn't been here, he would have found me..._

The reporter was talking again. "The authorities believe that this attempted robbery is tied to the Cyberspace terrorist group known as DREAD. If anyone in the audience knows anything about this crime or has information about the DREAD organization, please contact the police." 

"Wow, Takato," said Hirokazu. "Your house got raided by Cyber-terrorists! That's so _cool!_" 

"What's cool about it?" asked Takato. 

"Well, it's not cool your dad got hurt, I guess," Hirokazu replied, "but I mean, nothing really bad happened, and you got your name on television! I never get to be on TV, and I'm so much better looking than you, too." 

"Gee, Takato, I always knew you were messy," said Kenta, "but I had no idea your room was _that_ bad!" 

"Aw, shut up." 

"Sorry, man," said Hirokazu. "Didn't mean to make you mad. Come to think of it, I guess it would have been kinda scary, if you were there. Good thing you were safe here with us, huh?" 

"Yeah," answered Takato softly. "Really good." 

The party atmosphere had been considerably dampened by the sobering news, and nobody really knew how to make it come back. Going to sleep seemed like the best idea available. Hirokazu crawled into his bed, and his friends unrolled their sleeping bags. Takato was careful not to do anything that would let his egg show. Fortunately, Hirokazu tended to fall asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, and Kenta was blind as a bat without his glasses. Neither of them saw a thing. Takato crawled into his sleeping bag and curled up around his egg. 

"You're a lot of trouble, you know that?" he whispered to it. "I hope that girl comes back for you soon..." 

He rolled that idea around in his mind. The girl had said that she would be able to find _it_ wherever it was. There had to be some way of tracking the egg, at least well enough to know that it had been in his home. Otherwise, the strange men wouldn't have raided his house. The girl wouldn't have given him something that was obviously so important to her if she wasn't sure she could get it back again somehow. Even now, maybe, people in shadowy places were looking for their missing egg... and for Takato. 

Feeling chilled, the boy pulled the egg closer to him. It was warm, and there was something about the feeling of it tucked under his arm that comforted him slightly. He ran his hand over the smooth shell, the way he would stroke a sleeping cat. Then he stopped. He felt something under his fingers, a not-quite-movement. A pulse. A heartbeat. 

"You're awake now," he murmured sleepily. "Okay, but I'm sleeping. Good night, egg." 

Takato closed his eyes, and knew nothing more until morning.

* * *

Takato awoke to the smell of something cooking. He stirred a little, not sure he wanted to wake up. He had a vague notion somewhere in the back of his mind that something bad had recently happened, and he didn't really want to wake up and remember what it was. 

"Hey, Takato, wake up!" 

"Don' wanna," said Takato, rolling over and pulling the edge of the sleeping bag over his head. 

"Come on, wake up," said Kenta, shaking his shoulder. "We cooked your egg for you." 

"What?" said Takato, sitting up and staring. The events of yesterday were starting to trickle back into his brain. He suddenly realized he was no longer holding his egg. 

"Yeah," said Kenta. "We heard you talking in your sleep. You kept saying something about people trying to take your eggs away or something like that, so we figured that's what you wanted for breakfast. I didn't know you liked eggs that much, Takato." 

Takato realized that the egg he was most concerned with was down by his feet - apparently he'd shoved it down there while he tossed and turned in his sleep. He managed a laugh. 

"Aw, it was just a weird dream," he said. "The eggs smell good, though. Hang on while I get dressed, and I'll be right down." 

"Okay. See you there," said Kenta. He left the room, and Takato heard him shouting, "Hey, Mrs. Shiota, he's on his way!" 

Takato heaved a sigh of relief. While his friends were away, he carefully pulled the egg out of his sleeping bag. It might have been his ever-active imagination, but it seemed warmer now than it had before, almost hot to the touch. The heartbeat was stronger than ever - that much, at least, he could no longer believe might be a flight of fancy. 

"I hope you're not getting a fever," he muttered. 

He took the egg and slipped it back inside his backpack, hoping it would be a little cooler in there. Anyway, he couldn't take his sleeping bag to school, so it had been agreed that he would leave most of his things here for the day, and pick them up again on his way home. He wouldn't have been able to stand leaving his egg alone at Hirokazu's house all day. That would be even worse than leaving it alone at his own house. If something was going to go wrong, Takato wanted to be there when it happened. 

He dressed without paying attention - he probably wouldn't have been able to manage the feat at all if his clothing hadn't already been picked out beforehand and packed away in his bag - and ambled downstairs for breakfast. Kenta, an incorrigible morning person, was happily eating his scrambled eggs and chatting with Hirokazu's parents. Hirokazu himself was acting as if he hadn't gotten a wink of sleep all night, belying the snoring he'd been doing the night before. He looked in need of a cup of strong coffee, if anyone would have dared to give him such a thing. In another hour or so, he'd be wide awake and bouncing off the wall; the possible effects of any added caffeine were almost too daunting to contemplate. 

When they had all eaten, the boys were herded upstairs by Hirokazu's formidable mother and ordered to get ready for school. When Hirokazu's mother said to do things, people did them. Outwardly, she appeared to be a frail, pretty blonde woman, but when she started shouting, everyone around her suddenly felt compelled to do whatever it was she wanted. The boys were groomed, packed, and out the door in what seemed like only a few seconds, and they walked to school rather more quickly than they might have normally. 

"Is your mom always like that?" asked Takato. 

"Nah. Today was one of her good days," Hirokazu replied. "She's being nice 'cause you guys are around." 

"How did you ever convince her to let us come over in the first place?" asked Kenta. 

Hirokazu grinned. "'Cause I take after _her_ side of the family." 

Thanks to the tender administrations of Hirokazu's mother, all three boys (and one egg) made it to school early. Takato settled into his desk in the near-empty classroom and carefully placed his backpack under his desk. It would probably surprise his teacher, if she'd bothered to look at it - never since the first day of school had Takato made it to class without his sack filled to bursting with stray pieces of paper, notebooks, pencil boxes, and all the other odds and ends he used to get through his day at school. Most of those had been left behind today, the better to accommodate his egg... and also because he hadn't felt like packing them all up again after he'd dumped them on the floor. Now he sat and waited for the first bell to ring so class could start. 

At last, the bell rang, and the teacher appeared and began her lesson. Takato stared at the board, occasionally scribbling something in his notebook whenever she said something that sounded important. However, as the day wore on, he found his attention wandering more and more often. As the teacher's voice seemed to fade into a distant drone, more immediate issues loomed up in his mind. What _was_ in this egg he was carrying? Where did it come from? Where did the red-haired girl get it? Who were the men who pursued her, and how had she escaped them? Why hadn't she come back yet? Was she okay? 

Then there were the more personal, and disturbing questions. Questions like: Was anyone looking for him now? What would they do when they found him? Were his friends in danger? His family? Was _he_ in danger? 

_I wish I'd never met that girl,_ he thought in frustration. _Then I wouldn't have anything to worry about, and I wouldn't be stuck with this stupid egg!_

When the class went outside for gym, he looked speculatively at the dumpsters that were arrayed along the side of a building, their lids standing open for easy access. For a moment, it was tempting to just grab the egg and toss it in there with the trash. Then it would be out of his hair for good, and he wouldn't have to worry anymore. He and everyone around him would be safe - nobody would have to worry but the uniformed men and the violet-eyed girl. 

"Takato! Heads up!" 

Takato looked up, and a soccer ball fell out of the sky and bonked him on the head. It rolled away to another boy, who kicked it away again. 

"Pay attention, Takato!" he shouted. "You almost cost us a goal!" 

"It's not my fault I'm no good at soccer!" he protested. 

His classmate snorted and took off after the ball. 

Takato shook his head and trotted halfheartedly after him. What was he thinking? He couldn't get rid of the egg. He had felt its heartbeat. Whatever was in there, it was alive, and throwing it out and leaving it to the elements would be as good as killing it. It wasn't its fault that so much trouble was centering around it. 

_Unless maybe it's something dangerous,_ Takato mused, _but I can't believe anything so beautiful could be bad... Anyway, I promised I'd take care of it, and that's what I'll do! Somebody will come back for it soon._

At last, the school day ended. Takato barely restrained himself from shouting out of pure relief - surely there had never been a school day so long! He nearly bowled over several other students on his way out the door. Hirokazu and Kenta caught up to him outside the classroom, giving him a pair of curious looks. 

"Hey, man, what's your hurry?" Hirokazu asked. 

"Uh... nothing," said Takato vaguely. 

Kenta gave him a thoughtful look. "You aren't sick or something, are you? You've been out of it all day. More than usual." 

"I guess maybe I just didn't get enough sleep last night or something," said Takato. Inwardly he felt guilty - he'd never had to keep a secret like this from Kenta and Hirokazu before. 

"Oh, I get it," said Hirokazu, nodding wisely. "You're still worked up 'cause of your place getting robbed, right?" 

"Yeah," Takato agreed, seizing on the excuse with relief. After all, it _was_ true - he just knew better than they did why his house being robbed was something to worry about. "I haven't seen my mom and dad since it happened, and, well, I know it's kind of silly, but... I just want to go home and make sure they're all right." 

"We understand," said Kenta sympathetically. 

"Yeah, it's gotta be kinda scary, your dad getting beat up and stuff," said Hirokazu. "You go on home. I'll lug your junk back home for you later, okay?" 

"That would be great," said Takato, full of relief and gratitude. "Thanks, guys. I knew you'd understand." 

"No problem. What are pals for?" Hirokazu replied. 

"You're the best," said Takato. "See you later, okay?" 

"Yeah, sure. Bye!" 

"See you, Takato!" 

Takato waved goodbye to his friends and scampered down the sidewalk as fast as he could without making it look like he was in a panic. As he cast a backwards glance, he noticed Juri standing around the school doors. She seemed to be looking in his direction, and Takato felt a stab of regret. It was hard having to leave his friends hanging like this, especially when he couldn't even tell them why he was doing it, but.... 

As soon as he got home, he made a dash through the bakery, moving so quickly that the bell above the door hadn't stopped ringing when his feet hit the back stairs. His mother looked up to see the closing door, heard her son's footsteps, and sighed. 

"I wish he'd take his responsibilities a bit more seriously," she said to herself. 

Up the stairs Takato went, bursting into his room and then quickly shutting the door behind him. Panting slightly from his run, he carefully set his backpack down on his floor and unzipped it. The egg fell out of its wrappings and rolled across the carpet until it bumped against Takato's toes. He smiled a little, reminded faintly of a loyal pet greeting its owner. He sat down on the floor next to it and began stroking the smooth shell, enjoying its warmth against his fingers. 

"I guess you're my friend, too, aren't you?" he said. "Whatever you are in there... But don't worry. Whoever or whatever you are, I'm gonna take care of you. I won't let anything happen to you..." 

He let his hand rest on the top of the egg, feeling the gentle pulse of life inside. Then, suddenly, a shiver seemed to run through it. Beneath Takato's fingers, he felt the egg begin to crack. 

**

To Be Continued...

**


	2. It Hatches

**

It Hatches

**   
**

By: SilvorMoon

**

Takato stared, aghast, at the situation that was developing in the middle of his room. The egg shivered again, and a thin crack ran down its middle. A few chips of shell flaked away and spilled onto the rug. 

"Oh, no," said Takato. "Oh, no oh no oh no..." 

He pressed both his hands over the eggshell in a vain attempt to hold it together, only to feel yet more cracks spreading beneath his fingers. Now an intense heat was issuing from within the egg, hissing forth like jets of steam from the cracks. Takato held on until the heat threatened to remove his hands by burning them off. All he could do after that was watch in amazement as spurts of vapor continued to spout, surrounding it in a small cloud of whitish gas. The cloud grew larger and larger, filling most of the center of the room, until Takato could no longer even see his far wall. There was a final _whoosh_ from somewhere within the egg, and then... 

"Takato!" 

Something big jumped from within the cloud and pounced onto the astonished boy. He toppled over backwards, thudding onto the carpet, and felt something licking his face with a warm wet tongue. 

"Hey, take it easy! That _tickles_!" Takato protested, laughing in spite of himself. 

Obediently, the whatever-it-was backed off. "Takato?" 

"Yeah, that's right," said Takato vaguely. 

He sat up and shook himself, trying to clear the fog from his brain as well as see through the mist in his room. Thankfully, most of that had settled down, and Takato could now see exactly what had pounced on him. It was... 

... Well, it was red, for starters. Mostly red, anyway, with a white patch on its belly and black markings on various parts of its body. It had four limbs, each tipped with long thin claws, and a muscular tail sprung from the base of its back. Its head was reptilian, flat and blunt-nosed, with a pair of fin-like, upstanding ears. Just now, it was sitting back on its haunches, watching Takato with a curious light in its yellow eyes. 

"A dragon," Takato whispered. "You - you're a dragon!" 

"Nuh-uh," said the dragon. "I'm Guilmon!" 

"Guilmon, huh?" Takato repeated. "Is that your name?" 

The dragon just blinked at him in puzzlement. "I dunno. Is it?" 

"I don't know either. You started it." Takato shook his head, mystified. "How did you know my name, anyway?" 

"You told me," said Guilmon. "I was sleeping, and you told me." 

"So you could hear me, when you were in the egg?" 

"Mm-hm." Guilmon nodded. 

"Wow," said Takato. "Guilmon. My very own dragon! This is so cool - I've _always_ wanted a dragon!" 

Guilmon sat up a little and pricked his ears forward. "You like me?" 

Takato laughed. "Yeah, sure I like you! You're incredible!" 

"Yay!" Guilmon pounced on Takato and started licking his face again. Takato didn't even bother to try to stop laughing. He finally managed to get the dragon to back off slightly so he could sit up again, and he set a friendly hand on Guilmon's snout. 

"We're gonna be pals, aren't we, Guilmon?" he said. 

"Yeah!" said Guilmon happily. Then he blinked. "What does that mean?" 

"Well..." said Takato. "It means... it means we're going to hang out together and have a good time together and... and we'll look out for each other. You know, help each other when we're in trouble and stuff." 

"Oh," said Guilmon. "I like that idea. That's a smart idea, Takato." 

"Well, I didn't think of it all by myself," said Takato modestly. "Anyway, I promise I'll be a good friend for you." 

"Me too," said Guilmon. 

Takato smiled as he looked into the bright eyes of his new friend. 

_I'm going to take good care of you,_ he thought, feeling his resolve solidify. _I'm not letting anyone take you from me, now - not those crazy policemen, and not that redheaded girl, either!_

* * *

Of course, keeping a dragon in one's room is not without its complications. Takato managed well enough in the evening, and was even able to smuggle some stale bread up from downstairs so he could offer it to his new friend. He was worried that with those sharp carnivore's teeth, Guilmon might turn out to be a bit of a problem when it came to feeding, and he'd suffered visions of a red dragon roaming the streets in search of stray cats and pigeons. However, after some experimentation with the day's leftovers, it turned out that Guilmon thought sliced bread was the greatest thing since, well... it was pretty good stuff. 

However, it was one thing when you could sit at home and play in your room all evening without anyone bothering you, and another when you had to go to school all day and leave something like Guilmon home alone. Takato's limited interactions with his new dragon had taught him that while Guilmon seemed to have some rough knowledge of the world, such as the ability to speak in simple sentences, he really didn't know a whole lot. There was no telling what he'd do while Takato wasn't around, and if he happened to make enough noise to catch his parents' attention... 

Takato was still getting dressed for school and wondering what he was going to do (Guilmon was watching him with avid curiosity, still fascinated by the idea that his new friend felt the need to put on different colored "skin" every so often) when his mother knocked on the door. 

"Takato?" she called. "Are you awake?" 

"Yeah, Mom, I'm getting ready for school." 

"Honey, we just got a call from the police department. They have some more questions they want to ask us, so we're going downtown. Your father says he wants to look into buying a new oven while we're down there, so we might be a little late getting home. Will you be able to look after yourself for the evening?" 

"Yeah!" said Takato, almost a little too eagerly. "I mean, yeah, Mom, that's fine. No problem." 

He could almost hear a frown on the other side of the door. "You aren't planning mischief, are you?" 

"Who, me? Mischief? Of course not," said Takato. "I'm just saying I can take care of myself, that's all." 

"Okay," said his mother suspiciously. "But I'd better not find the house burned down when we get back!" 

Takato suddenly wondered if Guilmon could breathe fire. "Don't worry, you won't." 

"All right. I'll see you this evening, then." 

She walked away, her footsteps becoming quieter as they moved down the hall and towards the first floor. Takato sighed with relief. 

"Well, that's the problem solved for today, anyway," he said. 

Guilmon blinked. "Problem?" 

"Oh, it's nothing important," said Takato reassuringly. "Guilmon, can you do me a big favor?" 

"Favor?" 

"I want you to do something for me." 

"Ohhhhh, okay. I can do that." 

"Good," Takato said. "I have to go somewhere today, and I want you to stay inside. Okay?" 

Guilmon looked at him in puzzlement. "Go away? Why? We just met..." 

"Oh, I'm not going to be gone long," Takato hurried to assure him, hating the hurt look on his new friend's face. "It's just, well, there's this place called school, see, and all kids like me have to go there for a while every day. I'll be back before it gets dark outside. I wouldn't go away and leave you _forever._" 

"You'll come back?" 

"Yeah, that's right. I'll be back before you know it, so just settle down and take a nap or something until I get back." 

"Okay, Takato! I like naps." 

Takato grinned. "Good. Well, you be a good boy, Guilmon. Try to stay in my room, but if you get hungry, you can go downstairs and get some bread from the back room. _Only_ the back room, not the one with the big windows." 

"Okay," said Guilmon agreeably. 

Takato patted the dragon on his head, making him wag his tail happily, and then scooped up his backpack. As an afterthought, he picked up the odd device that had come with Guilmon's egg and put it in his pocket. He had a vague notion that the red-headed girl might want it back someday, and it was too likely to get lost in the chaos of his room if he left it home with Guilmon. He clipped it to his belt-loop and headed out through the door with a final goodbye. As he walked down the street, he thought he caught a glimpse of a red face peering out his window, and he waved. Guilmon waved back. Takato walked to school wondering what people would think if they happened to pass by and see Guilmon looking down at them. 

He arrived at school a little early, which was usual for him. He liked to hang out with Hirokazu and Kenta on the playground for a while before the bell rang. They were there waiting for him, rocking idly on the swing set while they chatted. Takato jogged up to them, waving. 

"Hey!" said Hirokazu. "Was wondering when you'd show up. How're things back home?" 

"Messy," Takato replied, after a moment of thought. That was true enough. The uniformed men had made more than a small mess at the Matsuda residence, and nobody had had the time to clean it all up yet. That was actually a comfort to Takato - there was no way Guilmon could possibly make his room any messier than it already was. 

"That's not a bad thing," said Hirokazu. "Anything that's too clean can't be healthy." 

Kenta adjusted his glasses. "It's true, you know. I saw it on TV somewhere. If you never get dirty when you're a kid, you don't build up the - the immunities and stuff, and then you get sick." 

"Well, we're all safe," said Takato, smiling a little. "Guess those weird guys were just trying to do me a favor." 

"Yeah!" Hirokazu cheered. "War on neatness! Down with soap!" 

Takato laughed. "You guys are nuts." 

Hirokazu gave him a friendly punch on the shoulder. "You started it." 

"I did not! It was Kenta," Takato teased. 

"You guys cut it out," said Kenta, blushing a little. "People are staring at us." 

"Are they really?" Takato looked around. There weren't many people on the schoolyard early in the morning, and what few there were seemed to be primarily occupied with hanging out with their own friends. It didn't seem to Takato that any of them were being any less rambunctious than him and Hirokazu. 

Then he caught a glimpse of someone who didn't fit in. It wasn't that he stood out from the crowd - far from it, and that was what finally made Takato realize there was something strange about him. He was standing at the far edge of the schoolyard, in the shade of a few trees, seeming to blend into the shadows. His skin and hair were both dark - the former a deep tan, the latter blue-black. In striking contrast were his eyes, which were a steely gray. Just now, they seemed to be fixed directly on Takato and his friends. Takato looked again and saw the boy's expression crease a tiny bit, as if in concern, and Takato felt a shiver run down his spine. He had the funny feeling that the boy wasn't looking at him and his friends... just at _him_. 

"You're right, he is staring at us," said Takato at last. "Who is he? Anyone know?" 

"Not me," said Kenta. 

"I've seen him around," Hirokazu said. "He's in our grade - one of the other classes. Doesn't socialize much. Kinda creepy kid, if you ask me." 

"Ah," Takato said vaguely. He glanced back at the steely-eyed boy. He seemed to have gotten bored with his watching and was now wandering towards the doors of the school. "Guess he's not very interested in us, after all." 

"Guess not," Hirokazu said, shrugging. He had plainly lost interest in the conversation. "Hey, we'd better get inside. Teacher'll have a cow if we aren't in our seats when the bell rings. Man, that woman's a slave driver..." 

He began wandering off in the direction of the school, and his friends followed with more resignation than enthusiasm. Takato trailed in the rear, not really thinking too much about where he was going. Before he entered the school's door, he stopped and looked around again. There was no sign of the strange boy. With a shrug, he chalked it up as just the least of the odd things that were happening to him lately, and decided not to think about it too much. 

Later, he would find himself regretting his decision.

* * *

A small disturbance came up around lunchtime. As usual, the classroom had erupted into chaos as soon as the lunch bell rang, while the teacher simply slumped in her desk and let the noise crash around her. She had tried and failed in the past to keep them quiet during this hour, and now had come to accept the inevitable conclusion that even she couldn't keep her students under control all the time. They got up from their desks and circulated, exchanging scraps of gossip and checking to see who had packed what in their lunch boxes. One boy actually took out a laptop and logged onto the Internet. 

"Hey, Takato," said Juri. "Do you want to sit next to me?" She indicated the empty seat of the desk next to her; the boy who had occupied it previously was off in a corner playing cards with some of his friends. 

"Sure!" said Takato eagerly. He picked up his things and moved to this new and improved location. Juri smiled. 

"I like having someone to share lunch with," she said conversationally. "My mother always makes too much for me to eat. You can have some, if you want." 

"Thanks," he said, accepting a rice ball. Like most boys his age, he was almost perpetually hungry. "So... yeah. It was nice of you to ask me over the other day. I really enjoyed it." 

She blushed a little. "Me, too." 

"I was thinking, well, maybe we could do it again sometime? I mean, not the exact same thing, but, I dunno, maybe we could so see a movie or something?" He trailed off, feeling a bit breathless and surprised at himself for having actually come out and said anything. 

"I'd like that," said Juri. "I'd like that a lot." 

"It couldn't be right away," Takato admitted. "A lot of crazy stuff has been happening lately, things are kind of hectic with me, but... maybe next weekend?" 

"That would be nice," she said. Her expression turned sympathetic. "You've been having a rough week, haven't you? I... I heard DREAD attacked your house." 

"Yeah," said Takato. He found he was suddenly a little reluctant to talk to Juri about the strange men. He didn't want her to be touched by any of the weirdness that was threatening to unravel his life. 

Juri lowered her eyes. "They scare me. When I first heard about them, I had nightmares that they'd come after me next..." 

"You don't have to be scared, Juri," said Takato reassuringly. "DREAD mostly goes after government stuff. They wouldn't mess with a girl like you." 

"They came after you," Juri pointed out. 

"Nah," said Takato, trying to sound convincing. "That was probably a mistake, anyway. I think..." He hesitated. "I think they thought there was something at my house, but they were wrong. There wasn't anything there." 

_But there is now,_ he thought, and felt his insides squirm. If DREAD raided his house while he was at school... 

"You're so brave," said Juri admiringly. "I don't know if I'd have the courage even to leave my room, if something like that almost happened to me." 

"I'm not that brave," Takato answered modestly. 

"Hey, what's this I hear?" said Hirokazu, bursting into the conversation like a wild rhino rushing through a picket fence. "Are you two lovebirds making wedding plans without me? I'm crushed!" 

"Buzz off, Hirokazu," Takato said, turning brilliant red. 

"Not only does he have a girlfriend, he's learned to talk back," said Hirokazu approvingly. "We might make a man out of you yet, Takato." 

"Just because Takato is polite doesn't mean he's not a man, Hirokazu," said Juri. "I'll bet if _you_ had been through what Takato's been through, you'd still be hiding under your bed." 

Takato tried to imagine Hirokazu's reactions to the last few days and found himself giving Juri high marks for intuition. 

"He doesn't mean it," said Kenta, ever the peacemaker. "Don't get all offended, Juri." 

"Yeah, Hirokazu's just playing around," Takato said. "He's always like this. Ignore him." 

"Ignore him, he says. Hmph. After all I've done for you, too," said Hirokazu, feigning annoyance. "Well, I know when I'm not wanted. Have fun planning your honeymoon, kids. I'm out." 

He sauntered away with Kenta shadowing him. Takato shrugged. 

"Are you sure he's your friend?" asked Juri. 

"Yeah," said Takato. "Hirokazu's a good guy. He's just... loud. And a little obnoxious, I guess. But he's a good guy to have on your side anyway. Especially when you're bored." 

"I guess," said Juri. 

Their conversation was interrupted by a commotion on the other side of the room. The boy with the laptop was now surrounded by people looking over his shoulder at what was apparently a fascinating display. Takato could think of a few things that would cause a reaction like that, but most of them weren't the kind of thing the teacher was likely to put up with in her classroom. Sure enough, as soon as she realized what was going on, she got up and strode briskly across the room to loom over the hapless net-surfer. 

"What is everyone looking at that's so interesting?" she asked sweetly. "Is it something I'd like to see?" 

The assumption was that the student would quickly stammer out a negative and snap the laptop shut before she could see whatever forbidden thing he was looking at. Instead, rather to the surprise of the teacher and the rest of the class, he turned it around for her to look. 

"There's been another sighting of DREAD," he said, pointing at the article displayed on the screen. "That's three in the last week." 

With that, even those who hadn't been looking before leaned in for a better look. Takato glanced at Juri and saw that she'd gone pale. He got up and went to try to find a place to stand where he could read the article for himself. He couldn't, but fortunately, Hirokazu and Kenta had gotten there first, and they obligingly scooted out of the way so he could have a look. 

Takato skimmed the article. The gist of it seemed to be that agents of DREAD had infiltrated a top-secret government laboratory and stolen some files. A few people were busily conjecturing on what this meant. It seemed that the files were not, as one might have expected, top-secret plans or blueprints or anything else interesting, but rather, some personnel files documenting the work histories of people who had worked for that branch years ago and had since passed into obscurity. Guesses as to why DREAD would want such a thing were already being discussed by the rest of the class. A few people joked that once again, the people at DREAD had gone for the wrong target - first going after the Matsuda's bakery, and now stealing files of worthless information. Other people were discussing kidnapping plots and equally dire possibilities. 

Takato walked back to the desk he'd been occupying and found Juri still staring worriedly off into space. 

"It's okay," he assured her. "Nothing bad has happened." 

"What was it?" she asked. 

"Nothing big. They just stole some file folders. Nothing important," he added quickly, as he saw her pale again. "Just old employee records. Stuff for people who haven't worked there since before we were born. Everybody thinks they've messed up again." 

"Oh," said Juri. For some reason, she looked a great deal more relaxed. "I guess it could be worse." 

"Yeah," Takato said. "Don't worry about a thing, Juri. Sooner or later they'll catch those guys from DREAD, and then we'll all be better off." 

Juri nodded. "Thanks, Takato... for trying to make me feel better. You're the nicest boy I know." 

Takato beamed. Somehow, all his problems seemed a lot smaller next to that.

* * *

Of course, not everyone was worried about impending threats from obscure criminal organizations. At the top of the list were Hirokazu and Kenta, who were interested primarily in seeing if they could get a soccer game going in the park after school. It would have been a shame to waste such a beautiful afternoon, and they had already rounded up a large number of their schoolmates to join in the fun. 

"Hey, you're coming with us, right, Takato?" asked Hirokazu. 

"I wish I could, but I can't. I've gotta go home. Mom and Dad had to go downtown today, and they want me to mind the bakery," Takato fibbed. He reflected that he was getting good at concocting extemporaneous stories. In this case, he felt he was justified - not only did he want to go home and make sure Guilmon was all right, but he knew good and well that he couldn't play soccer worth anything. 

"Bummer," said Hirokazu. "Well, catch you next time, then!" He didn't sound particularly disappointed, but then, he was well aware of Takato's soccer skills, or lack thereof. 

Takato nodded and waved, and then began walking slowly away, making sure everyone could see how disappointed he was at having to skip playing with his friends to mind the store. As soon as he was out of sight, however, he moved into a light jog. He had managed to keep his worries about Guilmon at a subconscious level most of the day, but now that he didn't have anything else to think about, they were coming back full-force. He decided to take the short route home, which involved cutting through some back alleys and climbing a fence or two, but would shave ten minutes off his walk. 

He was just walking down one of these alleys when he was hit by a wave of deja vu - there were footsteps behind him. He quickly stopped and turned around, but saw no one. Feeling a crawling sensation up his spine, he nevertheless told himself that it was just his eternally overactive imagination making him think someone was following him. However, when he moved again, the light footfalls followed him. They were moving rather more quickly than Takato himself. Takato moved into a full jog. The footsteps broke into a run. Takato decided he could worry about his imagination later and moved into his fastest sprint, hoping desperately he could get back on the well-traveled road before whatever was behind him caught up to him... 

Something tackled him from behind, slamming him down onto the dirty pavement, and a hand slapped over his mouth, reducing his cry of fright to a muffled choking sound. Takato struggled wildly, but whatever had him was stronger than he was, and seemed to know what it was doing. Within seconds, his attacker had wrested Takato's arms behind them and pulled them in a firm grip. Then the weight on his back let up, and Takato found himself being jerked to his feet and half-dragged behind the shelter of a large dumpster. Someone pulled them close enough that they could mutter into his ear, "Don't make a sound. Don't struggle, don't try to run, and I'll let you go." 

There was no arguing with a command like that; Takato couldn't say a word while that hand was pressed over his mouth. He nodded eagerly - and then let out a breath of relief as the hand was removed. For a few seconds, it was all Takato could do just to stand there and try to get some air back in his lungs. He felt the other hand release his wrists, and he turned around to see what kind of trouble he was in this time. He found himself looking directly into a pair of steely-gray eyes. 

"You again!" Takato exclaimed. 

"Yes, it's me," answered the boy blandly. "I wanted to talk to you earlier, but there were people around." 

"You didn't have to attack me," Takato complained, rubbing at his elbows where he'd bruised them in his fall. 

The strange boy shrugged. "You ran. I couldn't let you get away. It was hard enough trying to find you alone once." 

"So what do you want with me?" 

"You know. I want it back." 

Takato blinked. "What?" 

"The egg," said the boy insistently. "I've been sent to get it back. Ruki said she'd told you we'd be back for it." 

"Ruki... is she the girl with the red hair?" 

The boy sighed and rolled his eyes, apparently annoyed by Takato's failure to catch on. "Yes. Listen, we really need it back. It's urgent. What did you do with it?" 

"Tell me who you are first," answered Takato suspiciously. 

"That's not important." 

"It is to me. Ever since I met that crazy girl, it's been one weird thing after another. I want to know what the heck is going on!" 

"All right, all right. My name is Jenrya Lee. I'm one of Ruki's helpers. She would have been here herself, but she had something to take care of, so she sent me." 

"How do I know that for sure? You could be with the badguys, for all I know. You could be trying to trick me." 

"I'm not trying to trick anyone. Look, it's none of your concern what's going on, anyway, and it would take too long to explain. Just give back the things we left with you, and you won't have any more problems." 

Takato continued to glare distrustfully. The boy Jenrya sighed. 

"I promise," he said gently, "I'm not trying to harm anyone. I'm a friend." 

"Of who?" 

"Of me, for starters!" 

Much to Takato's surprise, Jenrya's backpack burst open, and a face peered out. Takato blinked. The creature in the backpack squirmed its way out and climbed onto Jenrya's shoulder as if there was nothing unusual about this at all. It looked rather like a dog, and rather like a rabbit, and at the same time not particularly like either. There was something almost human about its face, which was just now turned to regard Takato with a look of lively curiosity. 

"So, this is the guy, huh?" the creature said. "He looks like a wimp to me. Ruki was pretty dumb to leave it with him. I didn't think she was that dumb, did you?" 

"Nobody asked your opinion, Terriermon," said Jenrya. "Anyway, I told you to stay in the bag." 

"I've been there all day, and it's _stuffy_ in there!" 

"What is that?" asked Takato. 

"I'm not a that, I'm a who," said the little animal. 

"He's a Digimon," said Jenrya. "This one is called Terriermon. Are you going to help me or not?" 

Takato thought it over. "All right. I left it back in my room. I'll show you." 

"Good," Jenrya answered, with a sigh of relief. "Lead the way." 

Takato nodded and began escorting his strange new companion down the alley. Fortunately, it wasn't a very long way between there and the bakery, because Takato wasn't sure how much more confusion he could stand. He still wasn't completely convinced he trusted this strange boy, but... 

_A Digimon, huh? Could that be what Guilmon is?_

They reached the bakery, which Takato was relieved to find was still standing and wasn't surrounded by the press or the police department, or any combination thereof. He unlocked the side door and led Jenrya upstairs to his room. 

"In here," said Takato. 

They walked up the hall and stopped. The door to Takato's room was open. Feeling slightly nervous, Takato stepped into his room. Other than it being full of Takato's belongings, strewed haphazardly across the floor, it was quite empty. Jenrya walked in and looked around. 

"Where is it?" he asked. 

"It's not," said Takato dully. 

"What? What do you mean?" 

"I mean he's not here! He's gone! I left him here this morning, and now he's gone!" 

"He?" Jenrya repeated. "What do you mean, _he_?" 

"Guilmon. Isn't that who you're looking for?" 

Jenrya was still for a moment. "Are you trying to tell me that the egg... it hatched?" 

"Yes." 

"Oh, no..." Jenrya groaned. "You idiot! You weren't supposed to hatch it!" 

"I didn't do it on purpose!" Takato protested. 

"Moumantai, Jen!" said Terriermon. "You were gonna hatch it anyway, weren't you?" 

"Yes, but it was going to be under controlled conditions! It wasn't going to be turned loose to roam the streets!" 

"Wait," said Takato slowly. "The door was locked when I got here. Nobody could have gotten in from outside, and he's not too good with doorknobs yet. He's probably still in the house somewhere, unless he's busted out a hole in the wall or something. We ought to look for him first." Without bothering to hear Jenrya's reaction to this, he went wandering off down the hall calling, "Guilmon! Where are you?" After a moment, Jenrya shrugged and followed him. 

A short search uncovered Guilmon in the back room of the bakery, which had been stacked with shelves of day-old rolls and slightly stale doughnuts. It was empty now, but the dragon was curled up asleep under a table with his paws tucked around his bulging tummy, with a silly smile plastered across his face. Takato gave a laugh of relief. 

"Guilmon!" he exclaimed. "There you are! Oh, I was worried about you..." 

Guilmon's eyes blinked sleepily open, and then focused on his human friend. "Takato! You came back! I was _lonely_..." 

Takato hugged Guilmon, who licked his face affectionately. Jenrya watched them, his expression unreadable. Terriermon giggled. 

"Aren't they cute?" he asked of no one in particular. 

"Sure," said Jenrya. "Hey, listen, Takato or whatever your name is... We have to talk." 

"Why?" asked Takato. 

"Because things have gone wrong, and I'm not sure how to make them right again," Jenrya replied. "I'm probably going to need your help. You're probably going to need ours, too. It's obvious you don't have the knowledge or resources to care properly for a Digimon. We can help you there... By the way, do you still have the device that came with the egg?" 

Takato nodded and took it out of his pocket. He was surprised to find that the screen was alight now, glowing softly. Jenrya glanced at it briefly. 

"I thought so," he said. He sounded rather disappointed. "Ruki's going to be annoyed. Not that that's not her normal state, but still... We didn't count on this. You weren't who we would have chosen." 

"What are you talking about?" asked Takato, slightly annoyed. He wasn't sure what was going on, but a lot of it sounded as if someone out there was disapproving of him for things he wasn't entirely sure he'd actually done. 

In response, Jenrya took a device out of his pocket. It was just like the one Takato had been carrying, save that it was green where Takato's was red. 

"This," he said, "is what we call a D-Ark. They are... links, I guess, that bind humans to Digimon. Mine binds me to Terriermon, and him to me - we're partners. Yours was linked to Guilmon, and it's active, which means that Guilmon is now bound to somebody, and since you're the only one who's interacted with him for any amount of time, that means it's probably you." 

"So? I don't see why that's a bad thing," said Takato. "I like Guilmon, and he likes me." Guilmon nodded his agreement. 

"Yes, but... well, the plan was that we were going to choose a partner for Guilmon. Someone who would be of some help to us. I don't know what you can do for us, but we can't just leave you and Guilmon unsupervised. You're going to have to come back to HQ and get this straightened out." 

"What HQ?" asked Takato. 

"I'm not at liberty to say." 

"Oh, great," Takato muttered. "So you want me to randomly follow you to somewhere, and you won't even tell me where." 

"No. I want you _and_ Guilmon to follow me there. He can't stay here, you know. Look at the trouble he's already caused. Do you really think he'll stay undiscovered forever?" 

"Well, now that you mention it..." 

"He'll be safe with us. He'll have other Digimon to play with and everything, and you won't have to worry about your parents finding him." 

"I guess there's that," said Takato. 

"Listen, Takato... I know it's hard for you to trust me, but I am trying to help. You won't stay undiscovered. You've already had more near shaves than you know. Guilmon is going to be found by someone. If you don't come voluntarily with us now, then someone is going to come along later who won't give you a chance to come along quietly. They'll just snatch Guilmon out from under your nose - and maybe rub you out for good measure. I don't know. They're getting more desperate lately..." 

"Who, DREAD?" asked Takato, feeling a chill again. 

Jenrya gave him a long, steady look. 

"We _are_ DREAD," he said.

* * *

"Explain to me again," said Takato, "why I'm following you to the headquarters of a bunch of nationally known terrorists?" 

"Criminals," answered Jenrya matter-of-factly, as he scrambled over a fence. "Not terrorists. There's a difference." 

"Yeah, big difference," Takato muttered. 

"Moumantai," said Terriermon. "We're not that bad, once you get to know us." 

Takato and Guilmon were reluctantly following his new acquaintance's lead through a series of winding back streets. At least, Takato was reluctant. Guilmon was enjoying the jaunt, looking eagerly at the local pigeons and sniffing at trash cans, like a large and oddly colored dog. As for Takato, he was following only because he was so confused at this point that he really didn't know where else to go. He craved information, and this boy Jenrya seemed to know more about everything than anyone else he'd met recently, and also seemed inclined to give out some of that information if you asked him often enough. At any rate, Takato already seemed to have one foot in the quicksand, and it seemed easier to go down quietly than to draw out the inevitable. 

"What does that mean, anyway?" he asked. 

"Moumantai," said Jenrya. "It's Cantonese. It means 'take it easy'." 

"Cantonese? That's like from China, right?" 

Jenrya rolled his eyes a bit. "With a name like Lee, what did you think I was, British?" 

"Sorry, I wasn't thinking. I mean, I guess there's nothing wrong with being Chinese..." 

"Only half. My dad's Chinese, and my mom's from here," answered Jenrya. He sighed. "I'm sorry if I'm being rude. I'm not usually like this, but we've all been worried about... Guilmon. Things have been difficult enough lately, and with these new complications... Well, Ruki's going to strip a thread, at least." 

"What are a bunch of kids doing in a terro- in a criminal organization, anyway? Aren't you a little, you know, young for this kind of thing?" 

"I told you, we're not _in_ DREAD, we _are_ DREAD," said Jenrya, as if this explained everything. "And we're not as bad as the press makes us out. We just want something that's very, very hard to get." 

"What's that?" 

"Digimon! What else?" Terriermon piped up. "Who wouldn't want us? We're the best!" 

Takato couldn't argue with that. Now that he'd met with Guilmon, he couldn't imagine not wanting him around. Still... 

"What _are_ Digimon, anyway? And why wouldn't anyone want you to have them?" 

"Well," said Jenrya, "that's a long story. The short version is, they're weapons." 

"Weapons?" 

"Well, you know what Cyphers are, right?" 

"Well, yeah..." 

"Okay, Digimon are like Cyphers... only more so. There's no human in any of them - they're pure digital life. They were invented... oh, years ago, back when Cyberspace was just starting up. A team of developers were hired to attempt to create digital life forms that could live in the real world and in Cyberspace, and could be moved by programming. Most of them thought it was just going to be part of the game, and they designed the Digimon accordingly. The idea was roughly that you could tame them as your partners and then have them compete with each other - kind of like those old pocket monster games they used to play with, on a much larger scale." 

"Right, I'm with you so far." 

"The trouble is, the government wasn't interested in toys. They wanted weapons - monster soldiers that could be mass-produced and packed their own firepower. Anyone who had something like that would be the most powerful government in the world, most likely," said Jenrya. "One of the developers, though, he didn't like that idea, so he sabotaged the project. All the notes and things for it have disappeared, and him with them. All that was left were the Digimon - and they've all been sent into Cyberspace and settled down there. For a long time, nobody really knew they were there, because there weren't many of them at first, and they weren't very strong yet... but it looks like someone started an algorithm that's allowed them to reproduce and evolve. There are hundreds of them now, and some of them are amazingly powerful... and now they're starting to trickle into the real world." 

"Wow," said Takato. "So there are going to be more monsters like Guilmon and Terriermon? But that'll be great!" 

"Will it? Do you think people are going to want hundreds of monsters roaming the city streets? No. They can't be controlled now. There are too many of them, and they're too smart and too powerful. Some of them are every bit as intelligent as humans, and some are even more so. All of them can do things humans can't. It's possible they could become a threat. There are plans in motion to have all the Digimon destroyed." 

Takato clutched protectively at Guilmon. "They can't!" 

"They're going to try," said Jenrya. "That much, we've been able to gather. We've already derailed a few of their earliest attempts. See, that's what DREAD is all about. We're the Digimon Research And Defense organization. Our mission is to stop the Digimon from being deleted - and, maybe someday, to open the paths that will let them co-exist with humans in the real world." He smiled a little and patted Terriermon on the head. "Deep down, Digimon are just like people. Even if some of them are dangerous, it's still not right just to kill them all." 

"Digimon Research And Defence," Takato mused. "Hmm..." 

Jenrya looked at him expectantly, waiting for an opinion. 

"That doesn't spell DREAD. It spells DRAD." 

Jenrya sighed. "It was Ryo's idea. He wanted it to spell something cool, so we left the E in Research." 

"Oh." 

"But you understand what I'm talking about, right?" asked Jenrya, a little desperately. 

"Kind of," said Takato. 

"Well, Ruki can explain more, when you see her," Jenrya said. "She's the _de facto_ leader around here. I'm just helping out as best I can. My dad, too. He was one of the original programmers - that's how I know so much. I think Ruki hired me on just for that." 

"Oh," said Takato again. 

"Anyway, you'll see them all soon. We're almost there." 

They were now walking through an area that consisted mainly of small storage sheds, the kind where people stored their things in when they went away for the summer. Jenrya glanced up at the numbers on the doors until he found the one he wanted. He walked over and began fiddling with a padlock on the door. 

"This is it," he said. "Let's see, 4, 17, 5, 1, 4... got it!" 

The lock clicked open, and the boys and their Digimon stepped inside and closed the door. Jenrya flicked on a low-watt lightbulb, and Takato stared. Inside the shed was... a pile of junk. Through the gloom and dust, Takato picked out a rusty bicycle, an old sewing machine, a vanity with a broken mirror, and innumerable cardboard boxes. 

"It's the best we could afford," said Jenrya. 

"Your headquarters is in a shed," Takato said blankly. He decided that despite his previous experiences, he had failed to plumb the depths of weirdness his life could sink to. 

"No," Jenrya said. "The gateway to our headquarters is in a shed. Our headquarters is in Cyberspace. Have a look." 

He moved carefully to the back of the shed, attempting and largely succeeding at not tripping over anything. Takato and Guilmon did not manage quite so well, causing Jenrya to cringe a bit as they made a heap of boxes topple over with a dusty thump. At the far corner of the room there was a particularly large box that appeared to have once held a microwave. Jenrya picked it up and set it aside, revealing a mess of complicated wires and circuit boards and other things the technologically ignorant Takato couldn't understand, and in the middle of it all was a nicer-than-average laptop computer. Jenrya turned a few switches and made everything hum to life. 

"Um... you know we're not allowed in Cyberspace, right?" said Takato. "I mean, they locked it all up. We can't go in." 

"_We_ can," said Jenrya. "One of our members has... interesting talents. He was breaking laws before any of us ever thought of DREAD." 

He picked up a device on the end of a long wire and handed it to Takato, who recognized it as a crude reproduction of the entrance devices used to transfer solid matter to Cyberspace. He eyed it distrustfully. 

"Are you sure this thing works?" 

"Yes. I've used it dozens of times before. It's perfectly safe." 

"What about Guilmon?" 

"Don't worry. He'll follow you as long as you're touching him. Remember, this is second nature to him. Ready?" 

Takato took his puzzled partner's hand. "Ready." 

"Okay. Hold on." 

Jenrya flipped a switch, and there was - 

- a flash and a lurch and they were spinning and falling and - 

- they landed safely on the other side. Takato blinked and looked around. 

Now, this was more like what he'd imagined DREAD headquarters would be like. He was standing in a long hallway with doors leading off to either side, with a larger door at the far end. Jenrya took a breath as if bracing himself to do something unpleasant and began striding up the hallway. Takato followed behind, with Guilmon bringing up the lead. Terriermon giggled. 

"Jen's gonna get in trouble!" he said in a singsong voice. 

Jenrya glared, and Terriermon laughed. Takato kept quiet. As he drew closer to the door at the far end, he could make out the sounds of other voices. It stood slightly ajar, allowing him to hear bits of an argument of sorts. 

"Owwww! Easy, Ruki - that smarts!" 

"Well, if you'd hold still, it wouldn't hurt so much!" 

"Next time, I'm going to wait for Jenrya to come back. You'd think a girl would have a gentler touch, but no..." 

"Shut up, Ryo. It's your own fault for getting a stupid bullet stuck in you. We're all getting tired of fishing them out." 

"I can't help it! You always send me to do the dirty work and the complain when I get hurt." 

"You're the only one we can spare." 

"Thank you, Ruki. I feel _so_ loved." 

"Fine! Here's Jenrya - let him fix you! I quit!" 

Takato arrived in the next room just in time to see a familiar red-haired girl throw up her hands in disgust. She stalked over to Jenrya and thrust what appeared to be a pair of long-handled tweezers into his hands. 

"Here! You fix him," she snapped, and turned around and walked off without seeming to notice Takato. 

Jenrya sighed and appeared to decide that if she didn't want to bring up the subject, he wouldn't either. He walked across the room to a small table, where a boy was half-reclining, propped up on one elbow and watching the exchange with an expression of interest. Takato looked back at him. He appeared to be rather older than the rest of the group - perhaps his mid-teens. At the moment he was shirtless, showing off an athletic build and enviably tanned skin. He had the kind of untidy hair that suggested he had just gotten through doing something exciting and adventurous and hadn't gotten around to straightening up afterwards, and had the kind of clear blue eyes and bright white smile that more than likely made all girls in the vicinity sigh after him... with the possible exception of the red- haired one who was sulking at the far end of the room. Just now, the only unattractive thing about him was a large, ugly wound in one shoulder. 

"Hurt yourself again, hm?" asked Jenrya. "You really should learn to be more careful. You can't recover from everything, you know." 

"What good am I if I can't take a risk now and then?" answered the other boy. 

"Well, hold still and I'll see what I can do." 

Takato watched as Jenrya, acting as if this were all very commonplace, inserted the tweezers into the hole in Ryo's shoulder, fished around a bit, and withdrew a chunk of metal. He looked at it critically. 

"Seems to be in one piece," he said. "You were lucky this time. You should heal up just fine, now." 

"You don't have to tell me that," Ryo answered. "Took you so long to get here, it's healing up already. It'll be gone by nightfall, at this rate." 

Takato continued to stare in mild horror. It was not so much watching these two people talking about getting shot as if it were a scraped knee that bothered him. It was the fact that the blood Ryo was leaking appeared to be a peculiar shade of reddish purple, and seemed to vanish in small sparks before it could drip on the floor. 

"You - you're a Cypher!" Takato blurted. 

Ryo grinned. "Kind of you to notice. Can I have my shirt back, please, somebody? Not that I don't know I look my best this way, but..." 

Ruki balled up a wad of cloth and threw it across the room at him. "Put your stupid shirt on and shut your mouth." 

Ryo grinned and winked. "Sweetheart, isn't she? So, Jen, this is the guy, huh? I didn't know you were bringing him back." 

On the other side of the room, Ruki stiffened. She slowly turned around, as if she hoped that Takato wouldn't be there if she just took long enough to get around to looking at him. He was still there. He grinned sheepishly. Her eyes narrowed. 

"You'd better have a good reason for this," she said. "You were supposed to bring me the egg, not _him_." 

"Well," said Jenrya, "there's been... a little problem." 

"Problem?" 

Guilmon came shuffling into the room, sniffing the floor like a curious puppy. He raised his head and pricked his ears forward as he caught sight of Ruki. "Do I know you?" 

"Oh, great," said Ruki. "Don't tell me." 

"He hatched," Jenrya said repentantly. "I'm sorry, Ruki, I tried to get there in time... It took long enough just to track him down." 

Ruki sighed deeply. "Just when we didn't need a security breach. Well, we'll just have to deal with it now, I guess. I'll talk to the Advisor about it. Maybe they'll have a suggestion." She turned and began walking off. "One of you guys keep an eye on the kid. I'll be back when I have the Advisor's answer." 

She disappeared through a door and slammed it behind her. Ryo shook her head. 

"She takes things way too seriously," he said. 

"And _you_ don't take things seriously enough," Jenrya retorted. "She has a right to be annoyed." 

"She doesn't have to treat him like dirt, though," Ryo replied. "What's your name, kid?" 

"I'm not a kid," said Takato, "and my name's Takato. Takato Matsuda." 

"Okay, sorry. Takato. I'm Ryo. I guess you've already met Jenrya." 

Takato nodded. "Yeah, we met, kinda." 

"I don't know if it's a good idea to get too friendly with him," said Jenrya. "No telling what the Advisor is going to say about him." 

"Who's this Advisor?" asked Takato. 

Ryo shrugged and grinned. "No idea. Funny, isn't it?" 

"The Advisor is our advisor," said Terriermon patiently. "That's not hard to figure out, is it?" 

"Well, I guess not, but..." 

"We don't know exactly who the Advisor is," said Jenrya. "I don't even think Ruki knows, and she probably knows more about him than anyone else. None of us have ever met him face to face. All I know is that the Advisor seems to know all about Digimon and e-mails us once in a while with information. He sends us things - tips on what to do next, sometimes even money to pay for things... like the shed, for example." 

"So... let me get this straight," said Takato slowly. "DREAD - this big criminal organization that's got everyone in the country scared - is just three kids and an invisible man who sends e-mails." 

"Roughly," said Ryo. "You forgot Mr. Lee, though. And the Digimon. They're the most important part. And I'm not a kid - I'm a Cypher." 

"Well, okay, but still," said Takato. "How can you be any kind of threat at all? Why is everybody so worried about you?" 

"Well, look at what we've managed to do so far," said Jenrya. "I mean, we got Guilmon this week. That's a big achievement right there." 

Takato glanced at Guilmon. He appeared to have discovered his reflection in a nearby computer screen and was busy trying to figure out where the other dragon had come from. 

"It is?" 

"Yes," said Jenrya. "Guilmon is... special. He's not like any of the other Digimon. Every other Digimon in the world is a result, directly or indirectly, of the project my father was working on. Guilmon was created only a few months ago. He is - or was - part of the project to eliminate all the other Digimon. Their intent was to fight fire with fire. If he had stayed where he was, he would have been loaded with programming that would have allowed him to be controlled, and he would have been sent out to search for other Digimon and destroy them." 

"So you stole him," said Takato. "All right. How?" 

"Ruki and her partner did most of it," said Jenrya. 

Takato laughed. The other boys glared at him. 

"Oh, come on. You're telling me that one girl broke into a top-secret government lab, probably full of guards and cameras and who-knows-what-else, and stole their top-secret project right from under their nose?" 

"She did it," said Ryo. "It doesn't pay to underestimate that chick - or her partner. That Renamon's one slick piece of programming." He shook his head in a show of awe and admiration. 

Jenrya nodded. "She can walk through walls as easy as you can walk through an open door." 

Takato remembered the last time he'd seen Ruki. She'd been running along, and then, suddenly, she hadn't been anywhere. Had that been her partner at work? 

"It's going to take a long time to get you all filled in," said Jenrya, frowning a bit. 

"If we decide to keep him," said Ryo. "It might be easier to do without him. No offense, Takato, but we really did want a strong Tamer for Guilmon, and I don't know if you're up to the job." 

Takato glared at him. "What, do you think you could do better?" 

"I've _got_ my partner already. I can't have another one," said Ryo. "Anyway, it's not up to me, it's up to the Advisor... and Ruki." 

As if on cue, a door opened, and Ruki herself reappeared, looking thoughtful. All eyes immediately fastened on her. 

"Well," she said, "I talked to the Advisor." 

"That was fast. Normally he takes longer than that," said Jenrya. "What did he say?" 

"He says... well, he says that if Guilmon bonded to this guy, there's probably a good reason for it," she said, wincing as if the words tasted sour. "It looks like we're going to have to keep him." She fixed her unfathomable violet eyes on Takato. "Congratulations, kid. You're one of us." 

**

To Be Continued

**


	3. It Learns

**It Learns**

**By: SilvorMoon**

Somewhere in the city, a man sat in his office, scowling at his computer screen. That was nothing unusual - men in offices had been scowling at the mishaps of their computers since the day computers had been invented. This man wasn't particularly annoyed with the computer itself, though. His computers always did what he wanted them to, and if they didn't, he could force them to. His computers also had a cumulative value of several city blocks of real estate, buildings included. He liked them; he felt they suited him. It was just that today, the data that they were swiftly and flawlessly processing was not telling him what he wanted to know. 

His name was Mitsuo Yamaki, but few people ever bothered to learn or remember that he had a first name - he'd been Yamaki to everyone down to and including his first-grade schoolmates for as long as he could remember. It was a name that, up until rather recently, had commanded a certain amount of respect. He was, in fact, chief of a branch of the local government that specialized in tracking down techno-criminals: hackers, spammers, rogue Cyphers, and similar offenders. He was very, very good at it. The number of cases he'd cracked were astonishing for a man as young as he was, and there was a rumor drifting around that he lived a charmed life, that nobody could escape once Yamaki had set his sights on catching them. 

But that had been before DREAD had appeared to meddle in his life. 

An intercom that rested at his elbow buzzed, and a gentle female voice issued from it: "Mr. Yamaki, sir, there's someone here to see you. Shall I send him in?" 

Yamaki hesitated a fraction of a second. The voice belonged to the only other person to share this corner of the building with him: his receptionist, Reika. She had been bestowed upon him a few months ago, before his luck had turned, and he hadn't fully gotten used to her yet. Part of the problem was that he hadn't needed or wanted a receptionist, and wasn't really sure what to do with one now that he had her. He was a solitary man by nature, and communicated with most of his underlings by telephone or instant messaging, and he seldom had visitors. There really wasn't enough work for a receptionist to do, and she'd been reduced to watering the office plants and sharpening pencils just to give herself something to do. What he'd _asked_ for was an assistant - someone with qualifications similar to his own, who could help him with some of the day-to-day minutiae so he could free up his mind for the more important aspects of his job that didn't involve filling out forms and filing things away. Even a proper secretary would have been a help, but Reika's duties were very strictly outlined, and if anyone caught her deviating from them, it would likely cost her a job, and probably get Yamaki in trouble, too, if they caught him giving her work she wasn't supposed to do. 

She was also uncomfortably attractive. He'd been slightly startled the first time he'd met her: in an environment where most workers of her station dressed in simple skirts and jackets of grey, black, or tan, with their hair pulled in severe businesslike buns, she had arrived in a striking emerald-green pantsuit and her long red hair unbound. She would have been more than a little distracting if he had to look at her all day, but he mostly stayed in his office and she stayed in the little entry room out front. Even so, it got to be slightly nerve wracking having her appear at his elbow at some unexpected moment asking if he was sure there wasn't _anything_ she could do for him. It had crossed his mind at one point to wonder if there was someone out there who wasn't looking to have him removed from his position by way of a sexual harassment suit. 

"I'm busy. Who is it?" he asked. 

"Mr. Fukunaga, sir." 

Yamaki muted the intercom long enough to swear quietly. "Send him in." 

The door to his office was flung open with enough force to make Yamaki wince as he thought of what a blow like that might do to his precious computers. It was obvious Mr. Fukunaga had not been waiting to hear if Yamaki would permit him to enter the room or not, and was annoyed that Yamaki even thought he could tell him not to. 

"What _have_ you been doing?" he demanded. 

"Working," answered Yamaki tersely. 

"Well, you're not doing enough," Fukunaga snapped. "Do you have _any_ idea what's been going on lately? Do you?" 

Yamaki eyed Fukunaga levelly, mostly as a way of stalling while he got his temper under control. Fukunaga was a pugnacious-looking man, with flaming red hair, a square jaw, and small squinting eyes. He was also, unfortunately, the chief of the Digimon project, and Yamaki had been assigned to answer to him in matters concerning the DREAD case. It made Yamaki wish he was back with the rookie investigators chasing spammers. 

"It is my job to know what's going on," said Yamaki. "If you want to tell me you don't think I'm doing my job, come out and say it." 

"You haven't. It's been six months since we started you on this case, and you aren't a step closer to nailing DREAD than you were when you started." 

"That is not true. There are literally hundreds of leads in this case in my files; it simply takes time to sift through them all. It's only a matter of time before I have them." 

"That's what you said weeks ago," Fukunaga snapped. "And then what happened? The egg was stolen. It's lucky for you it was a failed experiment. If you'd let them get something _important_, you would have been out of a job." 

Yamaki bristled. "_I_ let them? It was _your_ staff guarding the idiot thing. I was against it from the start. Don't try to shift the blame to me." 

"You're the one who's supposed to be stopping DREAD. If they got past us, it's because _you_ didn't stop them in time. Now, maybe you don't care if monsters blow up the whole city. I know you're not a family man, Yamaki, but I've got kids at home to think about, and when I think about that thing running loose in the streets of Shiinatoshi..." 

"It isn't," said Yamaki flatly. "There hasn't been so much as a whisper out of it since it disappeared. For all you know, the egg never hatched. You said yourself it was a failed experiment. You don't even know it was viable, much less that it was capable of running amok in the streets." 

"The Xs are viable," Fukunaga muttered darkly. 

Yamaki decided to let the comment pass. "The fact is, I'm having more than a bit of trouble tracing people who seem to be able to disappear into thin air. I suspect one or more of them are Cyphers. If they are, it will take special equipment and a certain amount of planning to deal with them." 

"They aren't Cyphers," said Fukunaga flatly. "We've checked up on every last one in our records. Every Cypher in Shiinatoshi has been under surveillance for weeks. They couldn't have been involved." 

"Unless they were unregistered," said Yamaki. "I've caught a few unregistered Cyphers in my day. A few always manage to slip through the cracks." 

"So you want me to blame your failure on a bunch of nonexistent Cyphers? Nice try, but it won't wash. I want to see some results out of you, Yamaki, and I want to see them soon, or I'm going to start taking matters into my own hands." 

Yamaki gritted his teeth. "You'll hear from me as soon as I have anything to report." 

"I had better," Fukunaga snapped. "Remember, Yamaki, I can get you fired if you don't shape up." 

He stormed out of the room, slamming the door again behind him. Yamaki could hear muffled voices through the closed door and guessed that Reika and Mr. Fukunaga were exchanging words, and probably not friendly ones. Yamaki found himself wondering briefly how anyone had gotten along with Fukunaga long enough to produce the children he claimed to be so worried about, and decided he didn't really want to know. He sighed and turned back to the screen he'd been studying. 

"All right, back to work," he told himself, trying to calm his mind again. He stared at the latest report filed on leads in the DREAD case. "No one ever eludes me forever... and this time, I believe I am going to take this personally."

* * *

Takato looked around. There seemed to be entirely too many pairs of eyes fastened to him for his liking, and they didn't all look completely friendly. The pressure built up until he had no choice but to say something. 

"But what if I don't _want_ to be?" he asked. "Because I don't. I'm - I'm not a terrorist or a criminal or anything, I don't know anything about computers, I don't know much about _anything_..." 

"We know," said Ruki dryly. "Don't think I'm wild about the idea, either. But see, the thing is, you don't have a choice. You've tamed a Digimon, now. You know how to get into our headquarters. You know who we are. It's too dangerous to let you just wander off and do your own thing. Either you join us, or we're all in a lot of trouble." 

Jenrya looked sympathetic. "I know it's got to be a lot to take in at once. Think of it this way - if you join us, at least you've got our protection. Without us, you're alone with a very dangerous secret." 

"So, what do you say?" asked Ryo. "You want to be a DREADer or what?" 

"Well..." said Takato slowly. He looked down at Guilmon, who nudged his hand in a friendly sort of way. "I guess... I don't know what I can do for you, but if you're for helping the Digimon, I guess I'll try to help, too." 

"Great!" said Ryo, earning a frosty look from Ruki. "I'll get you all hooked up." 

"Hooked up?" Takato repeated, suffering visions of being plugged into the wall. 

Jenrya laughed a little. "Don't mind Ryo. He thinks about computers like most human guys his age think about girls." 

"That's a misrepresentation," said Ryo. "I'm only half-computer. I think about both equally." 

Terriermon stuck his tongue out at Ryo, who made a face at him. 

"What he means is, we'll get you entered into the system, and give you all the information you need to know," said Jenrya, as if nothing had happened. "At least, I assume that's what he meant." 

"Close enough," said Ryo. "I _am_ the best one for the job." 

"You think you're the best one for _everything_," said Terriermon. 

"Of course I don't. You're the best at being rude, insulting, and generally annoying," Ryo replied. 

"I wouldn't bet heavily on that last one, if I were you," said Jenrya. 

"You don't mind if I show the new kid around, do you, Ruki?" Ryo asked. 

Ruki shrugged. "You do whatever you want. I don't really care. Just don't let him get into trouble. _I've_ got to go home before my mom strips a thread." 

She turned and marched off. 

"I've got to get home, too," said Jenrya. "It's almost dinnertime. I know Dad will cover for me, but still, it's best not to make the rest of the family suspicious." 

"You go on," said Ryo. "I'll look after the new kid. C'mon, Takato. I've got lots to show you." 

They waved goodbye to Jenrya and Terriermon (and Ruki's retreating back) and wandered down one of the many branching hallways. This one seemed to lead to a series of small offices filled with computer equipment, resplendent with blinking lights and assorted diagrams. Ryo sat down in a desk chair and began logging into one of them. 

"Impressive, isn't it?" he said. "It looks like a better setup than it is, though. We had to make do with the equipment Jenrya's dad could hook us up with. This is just an interface with the computer we're hooked to in the real world. I jazzed it up a little so it would look more interesting. Ah, here we are." 

A screen flashed to life, showing the message, "Ready to Begin." 

"We're just going to make a log of your DDNA," said Ryo factually, as if Takato should know what this is. "For security reasons, you know." 

"I do?" Takato asked. 

Ryo sighed. "Okay, you know about DDNA?" 

Takato and Guilmon both shook their heads. 

"Well, you know what regular old DNA is, right?" asked Ryo, a little desperately. 

"Kind of," said Takato. 

"Well, when you move to the Cyberspace, you get converted into data. Everybody's data is a little bit different, and since the exact data pattern seems to be linked to your original DNA pattern somehow, people got to calling it Digital DNA - or just DDNA for short. I'm going to record your DDNA pattern into this computer so our security systems will recognize you. If anyone whose DDNA isn't recorded here tries to get in, they won't make it past the main hallway or be able to get back out again, unless they have an escort who _is_ registered. Or a Digimon. We let them have pretty much free reign around here." 

"So what do I do?" asked Takato. 

Ryo tapped the edge of the screen. "Just set your hand on that, and let it do its thing." 

"Oh. Okay." 

He rested his hand against the glass, and immediately felt a tingle running through his hand, like a mild electric charge. After a minute, the feeling subsided, and he felt only smooth glass beneath his fingers. 

"All done," Ryo announced. "Right. You're all set." 

"That's it?" asked Takato, who had been vaguely envisioning initiation ceremonies and elaborate contracts. 

"That's it," Ryo agreed. "Just got to give you some basic information, and you can go home. First off, the code to get into the shed is 4-18-5-1-4. That's D-R-E-A-D, get it?" 

"Got it," said Takato. 

"Second, if you ever need to get in touch with any of us - if you need help for any reason - here's everyone's names and numbers." He reached into a pocket and took out what appeared to be a battered black address book. "That's got the numbers for Ruki, Jen, and Mr. Lee in it, and their e- mails and home addresses. Any one of us will help you if you really need it." 

"What about you?" Takato asked. 

Ryo shrugged. "I live here, when I live anywhere. I don't have a phone number, but you can e- mail me, if you need to. Here." He took out a scrap of paper and scribbled something down. "That's my _personal_ e-mail - it goes straight to me, without having to pass through any computers." He grinned. "Being a Cypher has its perks. Any time, day or night, even if I'm asleep, I'll know if you need me." 

Takato smiled a little. "Thanks. I appreciate it." 

Ryo grinned. "Well, now that you're officially part of the team, how about I show you around a little? I have something I think your Digimon friend will like." 

Guilmon's ears pricked up. "Dinner?" It was the first word related to food that he had picked up. Thus far, Guilmon thought all meals were "dinner". 

Ryo laughed. "Not quite. But almost as good. Come on!" 

He got up and began heading briskly towards the door, waving for Takato and Guilmon to follow him. The two of them scrambled to keep up as best they could. Takato stared with wide eyes at the winding tunnels they navigated, slightly overwhelmed by their gleaming walls and electric doors, with their aura of ultra-technological security. Guilmon kept raising his nose to sniff the air, flicking his ears and occasionally lashing his tail like an excited cat. As for their leader, he negotiated all of it with the same careless attitude, pausing only long enough to peek through a side door and whistle. He was instantly joined by what appeared to be a small purple pterodactyl. 

"Meet my sidekick," said Ryo. "Guys, this is my partner Monodramon. Monodramon, this is Takato and Guilmon." 

"Hiya!" said Monodramon, waving. 

"So, what do you think?" asked Ryo, obviously proud. "He's pretty cool, huh?" 

"He's great," said Takato, bending down to shake the little creature's hand. "You have a dragon, like me... but Jenrya's is more like a dog or something. What kind of Digimon does Ruki have?" 

"Renamon," said Ryo. "She's kind of like a fox - in about the same way Terriermon is like a dog." 

"All the Digimon are so different," Takato mused, watching Guilmon and Monodramon getting to know each other. "How many kinds are there?" 

"We've recorded over three hundred kinds so far," said Ryo. "We're always turning up new ones. Just this last week, we listed a round dozen more in our files." 

"That's a lot," said Takato, impressed. "I want to see some more!" 

Ryo laughed at his eagerness. "You will! That's where we're going next - to the waiting room." 

"Waiting room?" Takato had a sudden vision of Digimon sitting around reading magazines outside a doctor's office. 

"That's what we call it," said Ryo. "It's where our Digimon friends who don't have partners hang out. Also our own partners, sometimes, if they can't be with us for some reason. It's like a big playground for Digimon, where they can relax and have fun while they're waiting for us to find them a suitable partner. You'll like it," he said, nodding in Guilmon's direction. "What do you think? Do you want to go play with the other Digimon?" 

"Yeah!" Guilmon cheered. Takato found himself grinning in spite of himself. It had been bothering him how he was going to take care of Guilmon while he was busy dealing with school and friends and parents. It would be a load off his mind to know that his new friend had a safe place where he could enjoy himself while Takato wasn't around. 

The walk to the waiting room was a long one, involving numerous twists and turns and more doors than Takato bothered to count, some of which were so cunningly hidden that Takato never would have seen them if Ryo hadn't been there to point them out. When he asked, the older boy explained that this was because the waiting room was one of the most high-security areas in the complex. If their enemies should happen to find this place, their primary concern was to keep the Digimon they housed safe from harm, at least for long enough for them to take themselves back to their own world. 

"Safe as a Cypher and a middle-aged computer guru can make them," said Ryo. "Which is safer than you think. I do have a few tricks with computers, if I do say so myself." He made a show of preening. "Ah, here we are - the main attraction." 

Ryo pressed a hand to what appeared to be no more than part of the abstract pattern of geometric shapes that adorned the wall. Instantly, the shapes rearranged themselves, opening up an irregularly shaped door. It was large enough that a large truck could have passed through it easily. Takato stared. Beyond the doorway, the area seemed to open up into wilderness. He was looking out across a broad field of waving grasses. To his right, he could see the beginnings of a forest; to his left, there was a twinkling that could only mean water. Yet, if he stared off into the distance, he could make out the steely walls that marked the rest of the complex, and there was a high roof overhead. 

"Ooh, pretty!" said Guilmon appreciatively. He looked up at Takato with wide, pleading eyes. "Takato, can I play there? Can I?" 

Takato glanced at Ryo, who said, "Sure, knock yourself out." 

"Yay!" Guilmon rushed out onto the grass and began sniffing eagerly at all the strange new plants he was discovering. He nuzzled a cluster of pink flowers and sneezed, blowing petals everywhere. 

"You can hang out with him here a while," said Ryo to Takato. "Then we've gotta go. I have stuff I've got to do today, and you won't be able to find your way out without help." 

Takato felt slightly miffed at this, but he had to admit that Ryo was right. He didn't think he could have remembered where all the doors he was supposed to be going through were. He wandered off after Guilmon, trying to think of how to explain to him that he was going to have to leave him here for a while. 

When he caught up with the dragon, he found himself standing at the top of a small hill, which sloped down towards the shore of a lake. He made it that far and stopped - not because he was tired, but because he had been startled by catching sight of another Digimon. This one was much larger than any of the others he had seen before, and appeared to be as much human as animal. Its body, at least, seemed human enough, though taller and more muscular than any human Takato had ever seen. It was also covered from top to toe in tawny fur. Instead of hands and feet, he had clawed paws, and a tail sprung from the base of his spine. His head was that of a lion's, with a great shaggy mane of hair. Oddly enough, his eyes still appeared human, even from a distance: they were brilliant blue and seemed strangely intelligent. The beast wore a pair of loose trousers, as well as the sheath of a sword slung over his back. At the moment, he seemed to be going over some kind of martial arts routine. It lacked the dancelike grace of some of the other martial artists Takato had seen, but the speed and confidence of the creature's movements made him think that those blows would hit anything they were aimed at with devastating force and accuracy. 

"Wow," said Takato, impressed and a little intimidated. He found himself backing down, trying to get out of sight in case the leonine being happened to look his way. Just because all the Digimon he had met so far had been friendly didn't mean this one would take kindly to a stranger in its personal space. 

As if in answer to his thoughts, Takato heard a low growl, and he cringed, thinking that he had been spotted and was about to find himself in a lot of trouble. He looked around to Guilmon, his mouth open to tell him to look out, but the words never made it past his lips. 

Guilmon, too, had sighted the other Digimon, but his reaction was far different from that of his partner's. He was crouched down on all fours, like a hunting animal about to pounce, digging his claws into the turf. A low growl was issuing from his throat, and wisps of smoke rose from his nostrils. A glance into his eyes showed that his pupils had contracted to hair-thin slits. Suddenly, he didn't look like Guilmon anymore. The silly, innocent creature Takato had known up until now was gone, and in its place was a taut-muscled, sharp-toothed, snarling beast, and Takato did not know it at all. 

"Guilmon?" he whispered. 

Guilmon's ears twitched, but his eyes stayed fixed on the Digimon swordsman. Suddenly, he lunged, shooting down the hill in a red blur to leap at the other Digimon's neck. It saw Guilmon coming and reacted, almost too late. A split second before Guilmon's teeth would have closed about his throat, the lion-man brought up one huge fist to block his path, and Guilmon slammed into it and bounced off, landing heavily on the sandy beach. He sat up and shook himself, growling at new levels of intensity. 

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" said the other Digimon. "Take it easy!" 

Guilmon snarled and leaped again, claws flailing. His intended target dodged - he moved easily for something so large - and Guilmon narrowly missed falling into the lake. His claws dug long trenches in the sand as he attempted to find purchase. The lion raised his sword and held it menacingly. 

"I don't know what you think you're doing," he rumbled, "but if you keep at it, you're going to be sorry." 

Guilmon didn't seem to understand, or show any sign that he had heard any words spoken at all. He lowed himself to the ground, preparing to make another spring. 

"Guilmon, no!" Takato ordered. "Leave him alone! He's not hurting you!" 

Guilmon's ears flickered, and for just a moment, his pupils seemed to dilate slightly. Then he roared again, showing all his teeth, and Takato became aware all over again just how very sharp and white they looked. 

"I said _stop!_" Takato shouted. "Stop it, stop it, stop it! Do you hear me! Back _off!_" 

Without thinking, Takato's hand went to the device clipped to his belt loop. There was a flash as it suddenly began glowing with red light, shooting an intense beam that bridged the gap between himself and his partner. Guilmon stiffened as the beam of light seemed to wrap around him like a rope, holding him in place. 

"Back down," said Takato again, more quietly. "Just leave him alone. Back down." 

There was a moment of utter stillness. Then, slowly, Guilmon seemed to relax. His growls slowly died, the tendrils of smoke at his mouth blew away on the wind and vanished, and his eyes opened back to their normal, innocent look. The red lights faded away, and Takato dropped to his knees, feeling suddenly drained. Guilmon blinked a few times, as if he had no idea what he'd just been doing. He looked at the other Digimon, and his ears pricked forward. 

"Hi!" he said. "Who are you?" 

Ryo came running over the hillside, with Monodramon flapping and hopping after him. 

"What the heck do you think you're doing?" he demanded. 

"I wasn't doing anything!" Takato protested. "I mean, I wasn't doing anything, and then Guilmon just went bonkers on this guy here, and I tried to make him stop, and there was all this light..." 

"Yes, I saw," said Ryo dryly. He looked up at the other Digimon. "Sorry, Leomon. It was my fault. If I'd been thinking, I wouldn't have let him in here." 

"I fail to see why him attacking me is your fault," said Leomon, giving Guilmon an appraising look. "Or did he tell you beforehand he was planning to attack?" 

"Not exactly," said Ryo, "but I kind of knew anyway. But he was so good around Monodramon and Terriermon, I just didn't think... Well, it's hard to explain. Don't worry, though. We won't let it happen again." 

"Well, at least it was interesting," Leomon answered, with a shrug of his massive shoulders. "But if you don't mind, I'm going to go practice somewhere it's a bit quieter." He strode away, his paws making no sound on the sandy beach. Ryo watched him go with a sigh. 

"Why did he go away?" asked Guilmon, seeming a bit put out. "I wanted to play." 

"You've done enough of that already," Ryo said. "As a matter of fact, I think we'd better take you somewhere else before you get into any _more_ trouble." 

Guilmon made a face. If he'd had proper lips, it might have been said he was pouting. As it was, his ears drooped and his nose crinkled as if he was smelling something bad. 

"I didn't do anything," he said. 

Takato discovered he was suddenly angry, and Ryo seemed like the best target. 

"What are you doing, talking to him like that?" he demanded. "You - you're acting like he did something wrong. He was probably just scared, that's all. He saw a big scary Digimon and got scared, and you're yelling at him for it." 

"He wasn't scared," said Ryo flatly. He sounded tired. "Takato, I'm sorry, that was my fault. I should have warned you... Maybe we should talk somewhere else, though." His pale eyes scanned the horizon, as if searching for more Digimon. He looked back at Guilmon, who had lost interest in the conversation and was busy chasing his tail. "Come on. Tell your Digimon he has to leave." 

"Come on, Guilmon," said Takato gently. "Time to go now." 

"But I was having fun," Guilmon protested. 

"Some other time," said Takato. "_Somebody_ doesn't want you to stay here. Now, be a good boy and follow me, okay?" 

Agreeable as ever, Guilmon abandoned his game and loped after Takato, who in turn stomped along after Ryo. They left the grassy plain behind and stood outside in the hall. Ryo leaned against the wall and put a hand to his face. 

"Okay, kid," he said, "here's the deal." 

"I'm not a kid," Takato muttered. 

Ryo ignored him. "You know your Digimon is special, right? He's not quite like the others." 

"You told me that," said Takato. "I didn't forget. I'm not stupid, you know." 

"Well, you're doing a pretty good impression," Ryo snapped. "Quit acting like I'm a big, mean ogre for picking on your Digimon and listen to me. Guilmon is different from every other Digimon in the world because he was created as part of something called the Digimon X project. We don't know much about them, yet, but we do know they're the major part of the movement to destroy all the Digimon. All our sources indicate that they're tinkering around with trying to replicate the original Digimon project as a way of fighting fire with fire. They're trying to build X-Digimon - _negative_ Digimon that will destroy any real Digimon they come across. Yours was the first. Guilmon isn't just any Digimon - he's a born killer." 

Takato looked at Guilmon, who looked blankly back at him. 

"Who, me?" he asked. 

Takato shook his head. "You're wrong. He... he can't be. I mean, just _look_ at him. He's not a killer, he's... he's this goofy little dragon who eats bread." 

"That's now how it looked a minute ago," said Ryo. "See, _this_ is why we wanted a powerful Tamer for Guilmon. He needs someone strong, to keep him in line - otherwise he could ruin everything for us. He could even put other human lives in danger." 

Takato bristled. "I handled him just fine, a minute ago." 

"Maybe so," said Ryo doubtfully. He sighed. "Well, what's done is done. I guess we'll make it work somehow." 

The other boy glowered. He got the feeling that this "we" didn't include him, and he resented it. Up until then, he'd been starting to like Ryo, even if he was a Cypher. Now it came back to him that these people didn't want him around, didn't think he was up to the job, and obviously wished Guilmon had gone to someone else. Takato clenched his fists. 

"Well, it's your own fault, you know," he said. "If you guys didn't want me to have Guilmon, you shouldn't have left him with me in the first place. But you did, and he's mine now, and you're going to have to deal with it. And me." He folded his arms and looked stubborn. 

Ryo held up his hands placatingly. "Okay, okay, don't bite me! I'm not saying it's your fault, I just want you to know where you stand. I know you're really attached to Guilmon - and that's good - but you've got to remember that he's dangerous." 

"I won't believe that," said Takato, shaking his head. He put his arms around Guilmon's neck, and the dragon nuzzled him gently. 

Ryo shrugged. "Whatever. Anyway, we can't keep him here if he's going to be picking fights with the other Digimon. How about I keep him with Monodramon and me for a while? You get along okay with Guilmon, don't you, Monodramon?" 

"Sure we do!" said Monodramon. Guilmon nodded agreeably. 

"Then that's what we'll do," Ryo declared. "Maybe later I can work out a way of getting him his own personal space, like the waiting room, only smaller. Be a waste of resources, though..." His gaze went distant as he pondered the logistics. 

Takato said nothing. It took a while before Ryo remembered again that he was there, and looked down at him. 

"Something bothering you?" he asked. 

"No," said Takato mechanically. "Nothing's bothering me. Just... I've got to go home. Promise you'll take good care of Guilmon?" 

"The best," said Ryo. "Don't worry about a thing. We can handle it." 

Takato nodded numbly and allowed Ryo to lead him down the mazy corridors toward the exit. He probably should have been watching where they were going, but he was too wrapped up in his thoughts to really pay attention properly. When they reached the exit, he patted Guilmon on the head. 

"Now, be a good boy," he said. "You're going to spend the night with your new friends, and I'll be back for you in the morning, okay?" 

"Aw..." said Guilmon. "I wanna go home with you." 

"I know you do, and I wish you could," said Takato. "It's just not safe for you there." 

"Safe?" 

"You'll get in trouble, trust me. You'll be better off here, where there are other Digimon for you to play with. I'll come back and visit every chance I get, all right? I promise I won't leave you alone forever." 

"Okay," said Guilmon. "Come back soon, okay? I miss you when you're gone." 

"Aw, I miss you too, Guilmon." 

Takato hugged his partner and felt Guilmon slurp his cheek with his rough warm tongue. 

"All right, you two, break it up," said Ryo, sounding amused. "Don't worry about the little guy. He's in good hands." 

"I know," said Takato. "Well, see ya." 

"So long, kid. Call us if you need us." 

Takato waved goodbye and began walking through the door. He got one last glimpse of Ryo, Monodramon, and Guilmon waving back at him before he was surrounded by swirling sparks and - 

- he was back in the real world. He shook himself. It was a bit of a jolt, turning back into a physical being again when he'd spent over an hour as a collection of data. With a sigh, he carefully covered up the computer and began clambering over the piles of junk to reach the exit. He thought about locking the door behind him, and wondered if his newfound teammates would be able to get out if he did. He decided to leave it alone and hope nobody would notice. He had enough things on his mind without worrying about whether or not he'd locked someone in a computerized world in a storage shed. 

_Who does this guy think he is, stealing my partner?_ he thought. _He thinks he can take care of Guilmon better than I can! But... I can't let them lock him up in a room all by himself. He'll be happier with another Digimon friend to play with, and I know Ryo will take good care of him. He knows so much more about... well, about everything than I do. ... I wish I knew more about this Digimon stuff. I really want to be a good partner for Guilmon. I'll prove to all of them I can be just as good a Tamer as they are! Better! I just wish I knew where to start..._

He sighed again and shoved his hands in his pockets. His fingers brushed against the battered black book Ryo had given him. Suddenly, he had an idea.

* * *

Takato awoke early the next morning. That was an unusual situation, as the next day was Saturday, when Takato normally would have slept in. Instead, his alarm clock jangled its message at precisely eight o'clock, and Takato sat up with a jolt to turn it off. He had already been wide awake, just waiting for the right moment. Now he bounded out of bed and went scrambling around for clean clothes. That was an undertaking in itself, as he never had gotten around to cleaning up his room after the invasion of the so-called burglars. After all, there had been other, more pressing matters to deal with. Eventually, he made do with a pair of jeans he'd found lying in a corner that he _supposed_ were clean, and a t-shirt he knew he'd worn at least once, but as he hadn't done anything particularly strenuous in it, he supposed it didn't matter. He went to his bookshelf and reached for a thick book labeled _Answers to Life's Secrets_ by Howard I. Noe. It had been a birthday gift from Hirokazu; the inside was hollow, and convenient for the storage of small items that he didn't want his parents to know about. It had formerly been occupied by a hidden candy stash, a string of firecrackers, and the wrapper from a valentine candy Juri had given him last year. Most of those precious objects had been either relocated or thrown away, and the hollow book now contained only Takato's D-Ark and the black address book. He took them both out and put them in his pockets. 

Moving as quietly as he could, he slipped down the stairs and out the back door. Luckily, his parents were already busy in the kitchen, getting today's supply of fresh bread ready for when the customers would start waking up and coming in. On any other day, they might have noticed that someone was up and moving around, but they were so used to their son staying in his room and sleeping or watching Saturday cartoons that it never occurred to either of them that he might actually be planning to leave the premises at this hour. They might miss him later, but there wasn't but so much they could say if he wanted to run around town all day on a weekend. 

It wasn't until he was outside that he stopped to look down at the notebook. Most of the pages were blank, and he wondered for a brief moment if Ryo had been playing some kind of a prank on him. At last, however, he found three names entered somewhere in the middle of the book. The first two were listed as the Lee home phone number, plus a cell phone number for Jenrya and a work number for his father. The other was for a Ruki Makino. There was a home address listed, and while he didn't think he'd ever been to that particular area, he had a rough idea where it was. It was a good distance away, but not so far that he couldn't walk it, and he had nothing better to do. The urge was upon him to find the leader of DREAD and see if he couldn't get her to part with some information. 

With that thought firmly in mind, he began to walk. If nothing else came of this expedition, he would have had a nice trip, because the neighborhood he found himself walking through was a pleasant one. All the houses were new and well-cared for. Most of them seemed to be actual _houses_, and not just businesses with rooms above them, as Takato's home was. He strolled slowly up the sidewalk, counting house numbers. At last, he sighted the numbers he was looking for, attached to a gatepost. Takato grinned and began running up to them. It took a moment before he had the presence of mind to look beyond the gate to the house itself. Then he did, and he stopped and stared. 

_Man, that's not a house, that's a palace!_ he thought. _Have I got the right place?_

He looked down at his book, but no, it said the same thing it had last time he'd looked. While he was standing there deciding what to do next, the gatepost spoke to him. 

"Hello," it said. "Can I help you?" 

Takato jumped. He was not used to being addressed by talking gateposts. Looking around, he noticed a tiny camera peering down at him, and an even tinier speaker mounted nearby. He collected his wits and spoke back to it. 

"Er, yeah. I think. Maybe," he said. "Is this, uh, the Makino residence?" 

"Oh, you must be one of Ruki's little friends," the gatepost gushed. "I'm so glad to see you! You know, she hardly ever gets visitors. Hang on, I'll open the gate." 

Sure enough, there was a quiet whirr, and the gates slid open. Feeling slightly haunted, Takato rushed through them and didn't bother to watch as they closed soundlessly behind him. He wasn't quite ready for intelligent entryways yet. 

The gateway led to a winding flagstone path that made its way leisurely through a garden. It was only a simple garden, with a few small trees and the occasional cluster of flowers and grasses, but the whole of it was arranged as artfully as a painting, so that even the empty spaces had a way of drawing the eye to them, inviting it to follow their curves to the next fountain or flowering shrub. Takato, with his artist's eye, concluded that either this place was run by someone with taste, or someone with enough money to hire someone who did. Judging by what he'd heard at the gatepost, he suspected it might be the latter. 

He reached the house itself, a miniature Japanese palace that echoed back to the olden days, before everyone had taken to living in high-rise apartments with thousands of plate-glass windows and satellite dishes on the roof. The front door was adorned with a door knocker so elaborate that it took Takato a moment to realize that it was functional, and not just another decoration. He reached up to knock, but before he could do so, the door opened by itself. He was not surprised - if the front gate could open by itself, why not the door? However, as it swung wider, he saw that its opening had a perfectly ordinary cause - namely, a human hand. 

Takato stared all over again. Standing in the doorway was a stunningly pretty young woman. She had long, wavy golden hair, artfully bound up, with a few tendrils left free to frame her heart- shaped face, and there were fresh flowers pinned behind one ear. She wore a flowing pink dress with a shimmer that suggested satin, and jewelry with a gleam that suggested it was all real - and expensive. Her face was not only adorned with tasteful makeup, but with a sunny smile. Takato was rather amazed that it seemed to be directed at him. 

"Am I in the right place?" he blurted. 

The woman gave a tinkling laugh. "Of course! You're looking for Ruki, aren't you? I'm her mother, Rumiko. Perhaps you've heard of me." 

"Er, yeah," said Takato. He felt himself coloring slightly. Nearly everyone knew the name of Rumiko Makino - she was possibly the most famous fashion model in Shiinatoshi. Takato actually had quite a few pictures of her lying around. Like any good artist, he practiced figure drawing, and swimsuit models in magazines were good to practice on. The idea that he had been drawing pictures of a friend's mother in her bikini was a little unsettling. 

"Let me guess," said Ms. Makino, lips quirking in a wry smile. "You didn't realize Ruki and I were related?" 

"No, not really," said Takato. 

She sighed a little. "I don't blame you. There isn't much of a resemblance. She takes after my mother more than me, really. I really don't understand it... she could be such a pretty girl if she'd just take better care of herself... Well, don't let me bore you with my babbling. You came to see Ruki, not me. I'm just so glad to see her socializing a bit like a normal girl her age..." 

Takato reflected that the kind of "socializing" he had in mind was probably anything but normal, but he certainly couldn't tell Ms. Makino that. He settled for nodding agreeably and allowing himself to be led inside the house. 

"Ruki's in the kitchen," said his hostess, waving to a room down the hall, where he could see light shining through an open door. "Come along - this way!" 

She breezed down the hall, waving for Takato to follow. 

_Hirokazu's never going to believe this,_ thought Takato, as he trotted after her. The idea of what his friend would say when he found out his friend had been casually dropping in on a gorgeous blonde mega-model made Takato smile. He found himself thinking he'd have to ask for her autograph, just so he could prove he'd been there. Spirits lifting, he made his way down the hall and peeked through the door. 

There were two people in the kitchen. One of them was Ruki herself, looking very out-of-place in this designer setting. The room could have been featured in any decorating magazine; Ruki herself was dressed as usual in tattered jeans and a faded purple shirt, her hair pulled into an untidy ponytail. She was nibbling without much interest on a piece of toast with jelly and gazing out the window, apparently unaware that she had a visitor. Sitting with her back to Takato was another, older woman. Her interest was not on food, but rather, on a computer that sat on a small desk nearby, apparently placed there so she could pursue whatever project she was working on while enjoying a view of the gardens outside. Her hair was graying, but Takato could see faint streaks in it like the streaks of blonde in Ruki's hair, and he imagined that she must have looked very like her granddaughter when she was younger. When she turned around to face him, he saw that she had the same violet eyes, only a bit darker and a good deal gentler. 

"Well, Rumiko," she said. "Won't you introduce us to your guest?" 

"I thought I might let Ruki do the honors," Ms. Makino answered. 

Ruki's attention snapped back from whatever faraway place it had been and landed squarely on Takato. He tried not to cringe. 

"Oh," she said. "Right. Mom, Grandma, this is Takato. Takato, this is my mom and my grandma." 

"Charmed, I'm sure," said Ruki's grandmother, smiling warmly at him. Takato found himself smiling back at her, despite the chilly look he was getting from Ruki herself. He had the feeling this woman was, in some way, a kindred spirit, or at least a kindly one. She was glad he was here, and his experiences yesterday had left him with a craving to feel welcome somewhere. 

"Well, I'd love to hang around and get acquainted," said Rumiko, "but I have to run, or I'll miss my appointment with my manicurist. Will you be all right on your own, Mother?" 

"I'll be fine. I'm just going to be doing a little shopping." Ruki's grandmother tapped the screen of her computer in a significant fashion. "I do love this online shopping idea. It's so much easier, now that I'm getting on in years, to let someone else do all the work for me." 

"Well, _I_ prefer doing it the old-fashioned way," said Ms. Makino with a laugh. "You can't try on clothes on a computer. Remember, though, you can use my credit card for whatever you want." 

"Thank you, dear. That's very kind of you," she replied. "You run along. I'm sure your daughter and her friend would like their privacy." 

"Oh, of course!" said Ms. Makino with a knowing wink. "Well, bye, all! Have fun!" 

She blew a kiss and breezed out of the room. The older woman smiled slightly. 

"There she goes again, always in a rush," she murmured. "Well, I suppose that leaves me to play hostess in her stead. Is there anything I can get for you, Takato? A cup of tea, or something to eat?" 

Takato blushed, realizing that in his eagerness to find Ruki, he'd forgotten all about breakfast. "That'd be great, Mrs... um..." 

"Hata. Seiko Hata," she supplied. "Well, I'll fix you up a snack, then, and you two can go sit out in the garden and enjoy the fine weather. That way you can talk without a stodgy old lady eavesdropping on you." 

"Good idea," said Ruki. She gave Takato another significant look. He just shrugged and tried to look inoffensive. 

A few minutes later, Mrs. Hata had supplied Ruki and Takato with a plate of sliced fruit and a cup of tea apiece. Takato sampled the drink and found that it was likewise flavored with fruit with hints of spices, and was sweet and refreshing. He was, however, more interested in the food, and Ruki watched him with faint disapproval as he helped himself generously. He shrugged it off - after all, she'd already had one breakfast, and he hadn't. 

"So," she said, after a few moments of silence had passed (out of necessity, as her companion's mouth was full), "explain to me what you're doing in _my_ house." 

"I wanted to talk to you," said Takato. 

Ruki rolled her eyes. "Like I didn't know that. How the heck did you find me? I didn't tell you where I live." 

"Ryo told me. He said if I needed help, I should come to one of you." 

"That chucklehead. He knew better than that," she muttered. "Well, I'll deal with him later. As for you, next time, remember that _polite_ people call before they come barging into other people's homes, got it?" 

"Sorry," said Takato, hanging his head. "I just really wanted to find out more about this Digimon stuff, and you seem to know more than anybody. I want to learn everything I can, so I won't be so much of a burden to you guys." 

"Hmm," she said. "Well, can't argue with that, I guess. So, what do you want to know?" 

"Anything you can tell me," said Takato, spreading his hands helplessly. "How did this whole DREAD thing get started? You started it, didn't you?" 

Ruki's eyes turned distant. "It didn't exactly start with me..." 

"It did not start with any of us present here," said a new voice. Takato nearly fell over in shock. Where there had been no one a moment ago, there was now a most unusual _someone_ standing there looking at hm. 

It was - it had to be - Ruki's partner Digimon. Just as Ryo had described her, she was both like and unlike a fox. She had the long, bushy tail and slender muzzle of a fox, with upstanding ears crowning her head, and she walked on doglike paws. However, her proportions were more human than animal, and she moved upright. She even wore clothing, of a sort, in the form of some kind of purple glove or armguard covering most of her... were they arms or front legs? Her fur was mainly a golden-yellow, with white on her front, her paws, and the tips of her ears and tail, and there were more subtle purple markings on her legs and face. Strangest of all were her eyes, which were neither human nor animal - green irises set against inky blackness. They looked like the kind of eyes that had seen things Takato could only imagine. She bowed slightly to Takato. 

"My apologies," she said. Her voice was deep, with an intimation of power. "It was not my intent to startle you." 

"No problem," said Takato weakly. He looked around, half-expecting that Ruki's grandmother would be running out of the house any second, demanding to know why there was a fox-creature standing in her garden conversing with her granddaughter. However, it seemed Renamon had taken the precaution of positioning herself in such a way that one of the posts that supported the porch also concealed her from the sight of anyone in the kitchen. "So, ah... You're Renamon, right? Ruki's friend?" 

The tip of the fox's tail twitched, and her ears flicked back and forth. Her face didn't have as much expression as a human's did, but Takato got the distinct impression that she was amused. 

"One could say that," she answered. "Yes, I am Renamon. And you are Takato, are you not? Our new ally." 

"I guess," he said. 

Renamon nodded. "You seek information. That is wise. I approve." Her ears flicked again. "I suspect, however, that you will have difficulty finding it, in this particular case. We are all moved by some force that we do not completely understand. We proceed mainly on faith... of which I also approve, and Ruki does not." 

Ruki shrugged the comment off. "I do what I have to do." 

"So, why _does_ a girl like you decide to take on the world over a bunch of critters most people would say don't exist..." Takato waved a hand at Renamon. "... on the advice of someone you've never even seen?" 

"Well," said Ruki slowly, "let's just say I didn't have anything better to do..."

* * *

Ruki's mother had been of the opinion that Ruki was going through what she called "an awkward stage". If anyone had asked Ruki about it, she would have said that "awkward" was the wrong word. It was not a good word to apply to Ruki; she was far too self-assured for it. However, if someone had brought up words like "deathly boring" or perhaps "mind-numbingly frustrating", Ruki would have given them full marks for intuition. 

By anyone's definition, the fact of the matter was that Ruki was growing up, and was caught in the difficult years between childhood and young-womanhood. She was too old for playing with toys and games of "let's-pretend", and she was too young yet to start taking on more adult pursuits. Her friends were growing up, too, and the children she had played in the sandbox with were turning into young men and women - young men whose minds suddenly seemed to be full of cars and girls and comic books, and young women whose minds were full of clothes and boys and high-school drama. None of these held any particular interest for Ruki. She had no interest in fashion and romance, despite her mother's best efforts. She'd always considered herself to be "one of the guys", but their sudden shift to middle-school crudeness unsettled her, as did the realization of _their_ realization that she was, after all, a girl. She had never been particularly good at making friends, but that had never mattered when the other children around her had been young enough to think anyone would want to play with them. Now there was the dawning of an understanding that she was just a little bit different, and didn't quite fit within the normal social parameters. She found herself, through no particular fault of her own, alone. 

Not that she really cared. She liked being alone, most of the time. What she didn't like was the fact that she had nothing to do with herself these days. None of her old interests seemed to suit her anymore, and she had yet to find anything new to occupy her time. Most days she spent wandering the city, walking in and out of shops without buying anything, visiting all the scenic spots without ever really seeing anything, waiting for something, somewhere to grab her attention. But nothing had. 

That was how, one night, she had found herself sitting in front of her computer, clicking randomly across the Internet in search of entertainment. It was very late, and she probably should have been sleeping, but she was so full of restless energy that she knew she would only toss and turn for hours, which seemed to make her more tired than staying up all night would have. 

_I am so bored,_ she thought despairingly. She'd spent the last fifteen minutes or so playing an online game, and doing so well at it that she might have just been randomly hitting keys for all the effort it took. _I've got to find something to do, and fast, or I'm going to go crazy._

She leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes. There was no other light in the room save for the glow of her computer screen, and with her eyes closed, it was utterly black. She sat like that for a moment, debating whether or not to go to sleep. She was inclined to decide against it. If there was anything more boring than playing games too easy for her, it was staring at the inside of her eyelids. 

Her attention was caught by the sound of a _blip_. She sat up and looked at her computer. The game screen had been partially covered by some kind of pop-up box. At first, Ruki thought it was an advertisement, and she reached up to clear it out. Then she realized that it was, in fact, some kind of chat box. Ruki blinked. She didn't recall having ever installed such a thing on her computer. The box said, _Good evening, Ruki Makino._

Ruki stared at it. She knew a little about these chat programs - her grandmother liked them. She knew they usually had some kind of identifying feature, some part that at least gave you a name for whoever was talking to you, but this box had nothing. Finally, she typed back, "Am I being hacked?" 

There was a pause. Then the answer came back, _In a sense. But don't worry - I don't mean to harm you. I'd like us to be friends, if we can._

Ruki typed, "How do you know my name?" 

_I know a lot of things about you, Ruki. I know that you are bored, and that you are alone and unhappy._

"Who are you?" 

There was a long pause. _My name is not important. Call me whatever you like. Listen to me, Ruki. I want you to help me._

"I don't give out help to just anybody," Ruki typed back, but she was intrigued nonetheless. This was the first time she had been interested in anything in what felt like years, and she wasn't about to back down... yet. 

_I don't expect you to do it for nothing. I'm going to do something for you first._

"What?" 

_I'm going to send you a friend, so you won't be lonely anymore._

"I'm not lonely." 

_But you are alone. I am going to send you a very special companion, someone unlike anyone you've ever met before. I think you will like them._

"I don't like just anyone, either," Ruki typed. "Who are you to decide who I like and who I don't? I'll decide for myself, thanks." 

_Then I will let you decide. You will meet your companion before the night is over. Sleep well, Ruki._

Ruki attempted to type back a response, but the box closed by itself. She stared. There was no trace of the mysterious communication left, only the image of the game she'd been playing. She rubbed her eyes. 

_I must have been dreaming,_ she thought. She sighed. It would have been more interesting if it had been real. For a moment, she'd almost believed it. _Maybe I'd better go to bed, or who knows what I'll wind up believing next._

She slipped into her nightclothes and crawled into bed, pulling the blankets up around her as if trying to hide from something. Even so, a few stray moonbeams slipped through her window to touch her face, highlighting the gold strands in her hair. She opened her eyes to stare at it, wishing it would move. If it would just rise a little higher, it would be out of sight above the roof of the house, and then she could possibly get some sleep. She watched as it slowly made its way through the sky, but she never saw it pass out of sight, because somehow, she fell asleep anyway. 

For a while. Sometime in the still hours of the morning, Ruki was jolted from her sleep by... what? She wasn't sure; it might have been a sound, or just part of a dream, but _something_ had sent a thrill of urgency through her body that made her open her eyes with a start. She stared up at her ceiling, panting slightly. 

"Just a dream," she told herself. "Just a dream." 

A breeze rushed across her, causing her hair to toss, stroking her face like gentle fingers. She turned, wondering when her window had been opened... and realized it had obviously been opened when the stranger had come in. 

"Who's there?" Ruki demanded. "I'm warning you, we have security in this place, and the police will be on you in nothing flat if you don't get out of here fast." She found herself wondering just how the stranger had managed to get in. The home of a high-profile model was well-protected, and nobody should have been able to open that window if Ruki didn't want it opened. 

The silhouette in the window moved slightly, allowing Ruki to see it more clearly. She gasped. Whatever it was, it was definitely not human. Ruki watched as it glided soundlessly across the room to her bedside, and her eyes widened as her memory was flooded with all the tales of supernatural beings her grandmother had told her when she was a child. For a panicked instant, she was certain she was about to be snatched up by a monster and eaten on the spot. 

Then the stranger knelt before her. 

"Yes," it said softly. Its voice was feminine, deep for a woman's and somehow soothing. It made Ruki think of winds that sighed over some moonlit mountain peak, far far away, where starlight and moonlight glittered on the snow. "Yes, you are the one I am looking for. I have found you at last. I am yours." 

Ruki closed her eyes and shook herself, then opened them again. It was still there - a talking fox, like the _kitsune_ of the old legends. But that was impossible... wasn't it? Even if there had ever been such a thing, surely they had died out in this age of high technology. 

"What are you?" Ruki asked. 

"I am called Renamon," the creature answered. "It is the name of my breed. I am a Digimon, and now, your partner." 

"How did you get into my room?" 

"I have ways of getting in and out of locked rooms," answered the fox. Ruki was sure she heard amusement in that voice. "As for how I came to be in your world... I am not sure. I come from a very different place, somewhere separate from this world. I had never known there was a way to reach this world, though I knew it was there... but today a door appeared before me, and I felt a powerful urge to go through it. When I did, I arrived in the yard outside your window. The moment I saw you, I knew I was here because of you." 

"You came here... for me." 

"Yes." 

"This is too weird." 

Renamon said nothing. Hesitantly, Ruki reached out a hand. If this was a dream, surely she wouldn't be able to touch this creature, or, if she could, she wouldn't actually feel anything. Her hand came in contact with something solid - the thick, springy fur of a wild animal, cool at the tips where the night air had touched it, and warm at the base from the animal's body heat. Ruki could feel the slight muscle vibrations of an excited beast, the soft rhythm of her breathing and her heartbeat. She shifted her hand slightly and felt her fingers brush the finer hairs at the base of the fox's ears. 

"You're real," she said at last. 

"Yes," said Renamon. "As are you. I have waited a long time to find a suitable partner. What is your name?" 

"Ruki. Ruki Makino." 

"Ruki. I am very happy to have found you." 

She reached up one paw and gently put it around the hand that rested on her head, and instead pressed it into the thick ruff of fur over her heart. For a moment, Ruki could feel the faint, steady pulse of its beat beneath her fingers. Then she felt something else entirely, a kind of strange, humming warmth. Suddenly, she and Renamon both had their hands pressed around a strange box. Ruki brought it close to examine it, but Renamon only nodded in satisfaction. 

"So be it," she said. 

Ruki looked up. "You knew this would happen?" 

"Yes. It is called a D-Ark. They are legendary, in my home world. This is the first I have ever seen. Its appearance proves me right - it means you are my Tamer." 

Ruki was still for a moment. Then she jumped out of bed and slapped her hand on the power button of her computer, tapping her foot impatiently as it slowly came to life. Renamon seemed unperturbed by her new acquaintance's actions, and stood quietly next to Ruki's bedroll. At last, the computer had booted completely and sat waiting for Ruki to do something. Ruki had half expected her mysterious hacker to be there waiting for her, but the screen stayed blank. Not knowing what else to do, she opened the notepad program and typed, "Where are you?" 

There was a moment of silence so long that Ruki was ready to turn off the machine in disgust. Finally, the answer came: _I am here. Has it arrived?_

"Yes," Ruki wrote back, "and you have some explaining to do." 

_Then allow me to explain._

Ruki did. Words slowly typed themselves across her screen, telling the story of the six programmers with a project so secret they had never even learned each other's names, of the game that became more than a game, of the mysterious, magical creatures called Digimon who were now in such grave danger... 

_This is the favor I want from you, Ruki. I want you to protect Renamon - and any other Digimon you can find. I will help you as much as I can. Will you help me in return?_

Ruki's hand went for the caps-lock button. "YES." 

_I had hoped you would. Listen - you must be careful. This may be dangerous, and I don't want to see you hurt._

"I'm not afraid of danger. Just tell me what to do! 

There was a long pause. 

_I have not decided on a plan, as yet. I will contact you again, though, when I have more information. In the meantime, watch, wait, and be on the lookout for others like the Digimon who met you tonight. Let me know if anything happens._

"I will," Ruki typed back. There was a long pause, and then she added, "Thank you." 

_You are very welcome, Ruki. Good night, now. Rest. You'll need your strength, I think._

Ruki nodded and watched as the program closed itself - obviously her new advisor had gone to sleep. Ruki yawned and decided that sleep sounded like a good idea. 

"Guess that's that," said Ruki. "Well, Renamon, looks like we're a team." 

The fox's ears flicked. "I knew that." 

Ruki found herself stifling a laugh. Obviously this Digimon's sense of humor was very like her own. Already, she felt herself warming to her new partner - and to her new line of work. She smiled as she crawled back into bed, watching out of the corner of her eye as Renamon made herself comfortable on a patch of carpet. 

_I'm getting the feeling,_ she thought, _that I'm not going to be bored much longer..._

* * *

"So you're doing all this because you were bored?" asked Takato, stunned. 

Ruki shook her head. "No. I _started_ because I was bored. I stayed because, well..." 

"Because it is the right thing to do," Renamon supplied. 

"Because I was needed," said Ruki. "I've got something here that only I can do, and I'm going to do it or die trying." 

Takato was quiet for a while, fiddling with the peel of an orange he'd been nibbling. "I see. Then I guess I have a good reason for wanting to help." 

Ruki raised an eyebrow, but Takato didn't answer. He wasn't quite sure how to put what he felt into words. It was just that... well, he'd never really been a _part_ of anything. He wasn't good at sports or video games like the other boys in his grade. He had made an attempt to join the manga club, but he had discovered that while he could draw the pictures, he didn't have the gift for plot and characterization he needed to make a real comic book, and after a while, people had started suggesting he try the art club instead. He had tried, only to have the members of the art club take a look at his comic-style drawings and suggest that hadn't he better try the manga club? True, he had a few good friends, and most of the time, life was pretty good, but... he'd never really had a purpose. There had never been anything he could do that nobody else could do - except, it seemed, tame a Guilmon. 

"I just want to do something important," he said. "If I can." 

"Well, you've got a long way to go, kid," said Ruki. "The way Ryo tells it, you've already lost control of Guilmon once. You're going to have to work on that. We can't afford to let him go off his hinges, so you'd better learn how to handle him." 

"I got him back," Takato grumbled. "Everybody makes such a big deal out of it... Guess I'd better check on him, anyway. I told him I'd come back - he probably misses me." 

"Such a strange Digimon," Renamon commented. "Somehow, I'd expected more from him. He was supposed to be a powerful weapon, yet he seems so childlike..." 

"He's not a weapon," said Takato stubbornly. "He's my friend. And I'm leaving. Bye, Ruki. Thank your grandma for the breakfast for me. Bye, Renamon. Nice meeting you." 

He turned and began heading for the gate. Behind him, he was sure he could feel two pairs of eyes watching him. He certainly didn't miss Ruki's sigh, or her last words as he trotted out of sight. 

"That boy," she said, "has a lot to learn." 

**To Be Continued**


	4. It Grows

**It Grows**

**By: SilvorMoon**

The alleyway appeared at first to be empty. For all practical purposes, it _was_ empty, containing only a few trash cans and assorted weeds and clutter. There was a chain-link fence at one end, with a heavy padlock holding the gate that led through it firmly in place; no one was getting in that way. The other end of the alley led out onto a residential street, but hardly anyone ever used that entrance, unless they were there to deposit or pick up garbage. The person who was arriving now didn't use that entrance, either. He didn't use any entrance at all. One moment there was no one, and in the next instance, he was simply... there. 

"Whoa," he said. "That was some kinda strange trip." 

He patted himself, as if to make sure he was still in one piece. Yes, everything still seemed to be in order, as much as it ever was. He was a strange little creature, something that wasn't quite humanoid but not quite animal, either. He walked upright like a human, and wore rudimentary clothing in the form of a pair of red gloves and a matching bandanna around his neck. However, he also had a long tail with an arrowhead point on the end, an a pair of hornlike protuberances springing from his head, and there were three stubby claws on each of his feet. Except for a white patch on his face, his skin was dark purple, with a leather-like sheen to it. The peculiar marking on his chest appeared to be a grinning face with too many teeth. The little creature looked all around, blinking his bright green eyes as he considered where to go from here. 

"Somethin' tells me this ain't exactly close to home," he muttered. "Either I'm goin' crazy, or this is the real world. Hm. Ain't this just my lucky day!" 

The real world! That required some serious thought, not something the little Digimon engaged in very often. Ever since the day he'd been hatched, he'd been hearing legends about the real world, and he'd always wanted to see it for himself. Digimon legend held that the real world was the true home of Digimon, and that someday they would all go there to live in a kind of Digimon utopia. Every once in a while, a Digimon from their corner of the Cyberspace - the area referred to as the Digital World - would disappear and not come back. It was held by many that these vanished Digimon had, whether because of their virtue or just by good luck, been drawn into the real world. Legend further held that every Digimon had a human partner living somewhere in the real world, and that there was no greater joy for a Digimon than to finally be united with this partner. Until now, he'd always thought the legends were a load of wishful thinking (a more polite term than what he actually would have used), but now he was beginning to have second thoughts. 

The particular second thoughts he'd been having were interrupted by the sound of a low growl. The little Digimon turned around slowly and found himself facing a large, villainous looking dog. Probably it was of Labrador stock, but that blood had been mixed with innumerable other less noble breeds, producing a shaggy amalgam of an animal. It was very large, very dirty and smelly, and just now, it had its hackles raised and its fangs bared. The Digimon began slowly backing away. 

"Er... nice doggie?" he said. 

The dog's growl escalated into a series of booming barks. The Digimon gave up on trying to be friendly and took to his feet. The dog chased after him, baying at the top of its considerable lung power. 

"This place ain't all it's cracked up to be!" the Digimon complained, panting as he scampered up the sidewalk. He stumbled on a crack and found himself scampering along on all fours, dodging between the legs of those human beings that crossed his path. They cried out as the huge dog rushed past in hot pursuit. 

"What was that?" a woman cried. 

"Just a dog chasing a cat," a man said. "Somebody ought to do something about these stray animals!" 

The Digimon ran to the corner of the street, but was prevented from getting across it by the sudden arrival of a large truck. He gave a yelp and instead darted around the corner. The dog followed him, gaining steadily. With a bark like a roar and a mighty lunge, it sprang forward and managed to seize its prey by the ankle, and began shaking its prize vigorously. The Digimon howled in pain. 

"Leggo of my leg, ya stupid animal!" he shouted. "_Night of Fire!_" 

He tossed a miniature fireball at the dog, singing its snout. The dog yelped and let go of its hold to paw at its face, whining. The Digimon limped along, panting in pain and fright, knowing there was no way it could outrun this beast with an injured leg. Desperately, he sought an exit, a hiding place, anywhere he could go that this monster couldn't reach him. Luck was by his side, and his sharp eyes fell on the grating of a ventilation duct on the side of a house. It had been loosened, some weeks ago, in a violent storm, and no one had gotten around to fixing it yet. Now the Digimon made a jump for it and managed to pry the grating open far enough that he could squeeze inside. The dog tried to chase after him, but it was too high up for the animal to reach. 

"Whew!" the Digimon sighed, leaning back to catch his breath. "This is gonna be tougher than I thought. So much for those stupid legends!" 

He inspected the bite on his leg and grimaced. He wasn't going to be doing any more traveling for a while, not until this healed up. Luckily, he seemed to be in a safe place. He turned his back on the grating, and instead, began crawling on his hands and knees through the duct. It was a tight squeeze, but eventually, he found his way to the other end and was able to peer into one of the rooms of the house. There was no one around. A grating separated him from the room, but that was no big thing - a few well-placed fireballs made short work of it, and he was able to leap down to the floor, stifling a yelp as he landed on his injured leg. He crawled into the darkest corner he could find, curled up into a ball, and knew nothing else for quite some time.

* * *

Takato wrestled with the lock on the door to the storage shed. He was not particularly good with locks, and this one was being stubborn. He finally managed to yank it open, ducked into the shed, and picked his way to the computer. He turned it on a little nervously - he really didn't know a lot about Cyberspace technology, and he had an unsettling fear of breaking it. Thankfully, the computer seemed to know what it was supposed to do, and the transportation program booted up without much help from him. Within moments, he was back in the main hall of the DREAD headquarters. 

"Well, I'm glad that worked," he said. "Now, how do I find Guilmon?" 

He had no idea, and there was no one around to answer his question. Not knowing what else to do, he began walking down the hallway towards the door at the far end. It opened at his approach, which reassured him only slightly. The room beyond it was empty. He walked into the center of it and turned in a small circle, looking around in bewilderment at all the doors that all looked the same. 

"Hello?" he called, hearing his voice echo all around him. "Is there anybody here? Anybody but me?" 

"Me, me, me," said the echoes. 

Takato sighed. "Well, fine, but that doesn't do me much good." 

Much to his relief, one of the doors slid open, and a middle-aged man walked in. Takato was mildly surprised; this was the first grownup that he'd seen within the DREAD compound. He was dismayed for a fraction of a second, wondering if this was one of the people they were supposed to be keeping out. Then he looked again and realized that there was something ever-so-faintly familiar about this man. 

"Er, hi," said Takato. "You wouldn't be Jenrya's dad, would you?" 

The man smiled. "Yes, that would be me. I'm Janyuu Lee. I suppose you're the Takato everyone is talking about?" 

"I guess so," said Takato. "I mean, yeah. Takato Matsuda - that's me." 

"Nice to meet you." Mr. Lee held out his hand, and Takato shook it. It was a reassuring sort of handshake - firm but not bone-crushing. Takato found himself smiling, feeling that here, at least, was someone who might take him seriously. 

"Nice to meet you, too," he said. "Hey, you wouldn't know where to find Guilmon, would you? I came to see him, but I don't know where he is." 

"You're not alone," said Mr. Lee wryly. "I still don't know where half these passages lead. I don't think anyone does, except Ryo... and maybe Ruki. She doesn't let on how much she knows to most people. But Ryo designed this place, and I believe he's more than a little enamored with his own programming abilities." 

"Is he around?" asked Takato. "He said he was here most of the time... Doesn't he ever go home?" 

"This is his home," Mr. Lee answered gravely. "Possibly the only one he's ever had. It's a personal thing - we don't talk about it much." 

Takato hung his head. "Sorry." 

"That's all right. I don't think he would be offended. You'll find it takes a great deal to offend Ryo." 

"Oh," said Takato. "So... is he here?" 

"I was about to try to learn that very thing," Mr. Lee replied. "He said he had something for me. Let's go look for him. We'll try his room first. Come on." 

The two of them set out on their search, wandering casually up one of the corridors. The sound of their footsteps echoing through the bare corridors was slightly ominous, and Takato attempted to cover it up with conversation. 

"Where's Jenrya?" he asked. 

"Karate practice. He won't be here until later," said Mr. Lee. "I'm only here now because he told me they've got a surprise for me, and I didn't want to wait any longer. Unfortunately, I can't be here as often as I'd like." 

"Why not?" 

"Because I'm being watched." 

Takato stopped walking, stunned. "Watched? By who?" 

"The government. Who else? They're not scrutinizing me _too_ closely yet, I don't think, but they've been around asking me questions a few times, and it behooves me not to behave in any fashion that looks too suspicious. If anyone caught me making illegal trips into Cyberspace, well..." 

"You could go to jail," said Takato, quietly horrified. It had not really occurred to him consciously that he or any of the other children could wind up in that kind of trouble, because he just didn't think of people that young going to prison, but to see such a risk being run by a grown man with a family... 

"I could," said Mr. Lee grimly. "I sincerely hope I won't, but it is a distinct possibility." 

"Wow," said Takato. "You must be really brave." 

The man surprised him by laughing. "Don't think it doesn't keep me awake some nights. But even if I knew for sure that it would happen eventually, I think I'd still do it. I helped bring these Digimon into being, and in some ways, I feel responsible for them. I've spent enough time among them by now to be convinced that they're not the mindless killing machines they're being made out to be. That's certainly not how I imagined them when I helped design them, and I'm sure my friends felt the same." 

"Don't you know?" asked Takato. 

Mr. Lee sighed and shook his head. "I'm afraid not. I haven't seen any of them since the day the project was disbanded. Our project was top-secret, you see. No one wanted to risk the chance that it might be duplicated, so they did what they could to ensure that none of us could meet again after it was all over. We never even knew each other's names. We only ever called each other by code names. We thought it was funny, at the time. Now..." He shook his head. "I would give a lot to be able to see them again, and tell them what our work has come to... and just to talk to them again. We were six of a kind." 

Takato suddenly remembered the events of yesterday - that DREAD had stolen a file folder from a government complex, a folder with the records of employees long gone... 

"Let's hurry and find Ryo," he said. 

Mr. Lee looked rather surprised at what must have seemed to him to be a non-sequitur, but he obligingly picked up his pace. Takato found himself having to move at a light jog to keep up, and he reflected that Jenrya's father had to be in very good shape for a middle-aged desk worker. Takato was panting slightly before long. His escort must have noticed after a while, because he slowed down just a little under the pretense of pointing out the landmarks they passed, so that Takato would better be able to find his way around in the future. 

"It's nice of you to try to help me like this," said Takato. He lowered his gaze. "I kind of feel like some people here don't really want me around." 

"Don't let them get to you," said Mr. Lee. "The way I see it, _none_ of us here really know what we're doing. I mean, really - a handful of children, one adult, and a parcel of runaway computer game characters, up against the most brilliant military and scientific minds our country has to offer? We all have to be a little crazy. I don't see how one more person who doesn't know what he's doing can do us any harm." 

Takato thought that over. He supposed Mr. Lee was right, in his way, but it didn't sound very encouraging all the same. 

As it turned out, Ryo wasn't in his room. Takato only got a glimpse of it through a partially opened door, and was surprised at how normal it looked - rather out of place in this high-tech facility. Further exploration revealed that he was hanging around in the room where he and Takato had talked the previous day, where Ryo had given him the black book and entered him into the computers. Just now, Ryo was busily interacting with one of his computers. Most people would have done this with a keyboard or some kind of pointing device, but most people weren't Cyphers. Ryo had a complicated- looking device cuffed to one wrist, with a wire running from it to the computer, which was busily flipping through screens and moving files around. Nearby, Guilmon and Monodramon were roughhousing on a patch of empty floor that was suitably removed from the machinery. When Takato entered the room, Guilmon stopped short to look at him, and Monodramon crashed into him and fell over. 

"Takato!" Guilmon squealed, and flung himself at his partner. Takato was driven against the far wall and subjected to having his face slurped. 

"Hey, easy!" said Takato, laughing. "I know I haven't had my bath today, but I can't be that dirty!" 

Guilmon backed off a bit. "I _missed_ you. Ryo's nice, but he's not you." 

Takato felt absurdly pleased. He had been worried, somewhere in the dark corners of his mind, that Guilmon might find himself preferring the confident, intelligent, handsome Ryo to Takato, and it was nice to be reassured. He patted his partner's head. 

"I missed you too," he said. "Don't worry. I don't have school today, so we can spend the rest of the day together." 

"Yay!" said Guilmon, and began doing a joyful dance. Monodramon seemed to think this looked like fun and tried to join in. Ryo opened his eyes and fixed them both with a glare. 

"Could you keep it down?" he said. "Some of us are trying to think, here... Hey, Mr. Lee! I haven't seen you in a while. When did you get here? I didn't hear you come in." 

"That's all right. I know you're busy," said Mr. Lee. "I just dropped by because I'd heard you had something important to show me." 

"Ah, yeah, that's right!" said Ryo. "Hang on, I've got it around here somewhere..." 

He got up, started to walk away, remembered he was still cuffed to the computer, and began fumbling one-handedly with the device. He finally managed to get it to release its grip on him, and walked across the room to where a large green file cabinet stood like a sentinel. He went through its insides, muttering to himself in the fashion of one who has forgotten what he's filed his files under, before finally producing a battered manilla envelope. He gave a triumphant cry. 

"This is it!" he announced. "Read this, Mr. Lee. You'll like it." 

Mr. Lee obediently took the file and seated himself in a free chair, so he could spread its contents out on one of the terminals before him. Takato hovered over the man's shoulder, trying to get a better look, and Guilmon stood on tiptoe behind him, planting his paws on Takato's shoulders and resting his chin on his head. Ryo stood a short distance behind them all, smiling in a proprietary way, rather the way a gardener would when a group of people had come over to see his flowers. 

Takato's guess had been correct: the file folder contained the names and photographs of six individuals, code named "The Wild Bunch," who had worked on the Digimon project all those years ago. One of them was plainly a younger Mr. Lee, his hair not yet streaked with gray as it was now. His data sheet listed him a software engineer. Another picture showed a pale woman who watched the camera with wide, blue-gray eyes. The sheet listed her as Anna Marie Thompson, code named Daisy, and went on to say that she worked in video-game design. A red-haired, bespectacled man was Robert McCoy, known to his compatriots as Dolphin - he apparently had been a promient computer science professor at an American university. A dark-skinned man with a jawline beard grinned casually from another photo. He was identified as Winston Moore, a specialist in computer hardware, though Mr. Lee had never known him as anything but Babel. A kindly-looking woman with long, straight hair was cryptically identified as Curly, with her real name given as Rai Aishuwarya. She apparently specialized in robotics. The last member of the group was a man with golden hair and a dreamy expression, identified as Goro Mizuno, or Shibumi. Takato was rather impressed with his list of qualifications; he had apparently done everything under the sun that related to computers. At some point in time, someone had come along with a red ink pen and circled the phrase "artificial intelligence" several times. 

"Well, would you look at that," said Mr. Lee softly. "The old dream team. I never thought I'd see them all together again, even in pictures." 

Ryo grinned and clapped him on the back. "When you joined up, we promised we'd help you get the old team back together. Won't be long before they stop being just a dream team and start being a real one again. Of course, we might just need a little of your help to make it actually _happen_..." 

"Well, I don't mind saying, this makes my day," said Mr. Lee. "I'll certainly do anything I can to help." 

"Can I help?" asked Takato. 

Ryo gave him a tolerant smile. "Thanks for the sentiments, but... well, you know what they say about too many cooks and all. Why don't you go play with Guilmon or something?" 

"Humph," said Takato. 

Guilmon looked up at Takato. "We can play now?" 

"Sure," said Takato. "Come on. Let's go find someplace to play where we won't _bother_ anybody." 

He shuffled off, Guilmon in tow. Despite the way Takato felt, Guilmon looked nothing less than overjoyed to finally have a chance to play with his partner. Takao smiled at him and tried to feel encouraged - after all, there was at least one person around here who seemed to think he had some worth.

* * *

"Mr. Yamaki, there's someone here to see you." 

Yamaki sighed and sat back in his chair. It was on his tongue to say that if it was Fukunaga, to tell him to go take a long walk off a short pier, but he knew only too well that if he said anything so that Reika could hear it, whoever was out there could hear him, too. 

"Who is it?" he said at last. 

"Mr. Hongo, sir." 

"Fine! That's more like it. Send him in." 

The door was opened, and Mr. Hongo was admitted. He was not a handsome man - he had been in this business a long time, and dealing with various unsavory characters had taken its toll on him. His nose had been broken multiple times, and several of his teeth were obviously not original parts. Even in the dim computer room, they flashed gold as he spoke. 

"Mr. Yamaki, sir we got the profile you wanted," he said. 

"Excellent. I knew I could count on you," Yamaki replied. Silently, he added, _Maybe this will get Fukunaga off my case for a while._

Mr. Hongo handed him a folder containing a single sheet of paper. It was an artist's reconstruction of the face of the thief he had pursued a few days ago. Now Yamaki held it up to scrutinize it. He found himself looking back at the sullen face of a young girl, and he frowned slightly. 

"Do you want us to distribute it?" asked Mr. Hongo. "You know we can have it all over the city by sundown." 

"No," said Yamaki. "Hold off a bit. This isn't who we're looking for." 

The man looked startled. "Mr. Yamaki, I followed the girl myself. I got a close look at her. That's her." 

"I understand that," said Yamaki. "What I should have said is that this isn't the person we most need to find. This is a child. She is, at most, a pawn in the proceedings. It's doubtful that she would be of great use even as a source of information." He gave a mirthless laugh. "Besides, imagine the reaction if we let out that we suspected a _schoolgirl_ of being a key suspect in the DREAD case. They would hardly take us seriously. No, we'll keep looking for her, but we won't make an issue over it, not yet. Not unless we get desperate... and I don't plan to get desperate." 

"Yes, sir," said Mr. Hongo. 

"Is there anything else you wanted to say?" asked Yamaki. He doubted there was anything much; if the most important thing Hongo had to say was to show him a suspect sketch, there couldn't be a lot of other news. He was already turning back to his computers. 

"Nothing, sir," said Mr. Hongo. "Except..." 

Yamaki raised his eyes, looking at him over the rims of his glasses. "Except what?" 

"I encountered Mr. Fukunaga briefly, before I came here," he said slowly. "He said something about launching an X. He said you would be interested to hear it... Sir? Sir!" 

The last few words were shouted at Yamaki's retreating back. All that was left of him in his office was his swivel chair, silently revolving in place.

* * *

Guilmon leaped into the air and closed his jaws with a snap, neatly catching the knotted handkerchief Takato had thrown to him. He landed on all fours, skidding slightly on the metallic floor, coming to a halt only a few inches from the wall. Takato laughed. 

"Nice catch!" he said. "Come on, throw it back!" 

For the last few minutes, Takato and his partner had been hiding out in an unused room, which was empty save for a few file cabinets tucked against the walls. It didn't look like the kind of place where a lot of damage could be done, nor did it seem likely that they would bother anyone there if they decided to have a game of catch in there. Guilmon was turning out to be very good at it, when he wasn't running into things. 

Guilmon pulled the knotted cloth out of his mouth and tossed it back to his partner. Takato made a grab for it, but Guilmon's aim had been off, and it went above his head. He back-stepped quickly - and ran into something that hadn't been there a moment ago. 

"Yow!" said Takato as he slammed against the floor. 

"Yow!" said whatever Takato had tripped over. "Why don't you watch where you're going?" 

Takato tried to get his vision back in focus, and found himself looking up at Jenrya's calm gray eyes. Somewhere out of his view, he felt Terriermon shove his feet aside. 

"You know, this isn't really the best place to play," said Jenrya. 

He held out one hand, which Takato gladly accepted, hauling himself to his feet. He felt slightly sore where he'd struck the hard floor, and wondered vaguely whether or not he'd still hurt when he got back to real life. 

"Sorry," said Takato. "It was the first empty room I found." 

"Ah, I see," Jenrya replied. "Well, we have some important files stored in this area, and I'd just as soon they didn't get damaged. Remind me later, and I'll find you someplace better to hang around." 

"Why not now?" Takato asked. 

"Right now, I'm looking for my dad," Jenrya replied. "You haven't seen him, have you?" 

"Yeah, I saw him a while ago. He's off with Ryo doing something-or-other." 

Jenrya sighed. "I thought it might be something like that. He knows he's not supposed to stay here for very long, but he does it anyway... and Ryo won't stop him. Once he gets his mind on a project, everything else goes out the window. He can be so irresponsible sometimes." 

"But you put up with him, right?" 

"Well, he's a nice enough guy... and very useful. Come on - let's go see what he's up to. If Dad gets in trouble over this, I want it to be for a good reason." 

"Okay," Takato agreed. "Come on, Guilmon. We're going to go visit your friend Monodramon some more." 

"Okay!" Guilmon cheered. He picked up Takato's handkerchief and, seeing that Takato no longer seemed particularly interested in it, carried it along in his mouth like a dog with a bone. 

It took a few tries to get back to the place Takato had last seen Ryo and Mr. Lee - his descriptions of the last place he'd seen them were perforce a little vague, and "the room with the computers in it" wasn't very helpful. When at last they reached their destination, they found Ryo staring thoughtfully at a computer screen, while Mr. Lee watched over his shoulder. Ryo had plugged himself in again, and he seemed to be busily trying to manipulate something on the screen. He didn't even look up as Jenrya, Takato, and their Digimon entered, though Monodramon gave them a cheery wave. 

"Dad, what are you doing?" Jenrya asked. 

"The computer has picked up another stray Digimon," said Ryo. "I'm trying to nail it down, but I'm getting mixed signals." 

"I hope we haven't got a malfunction," said Mr. Lee. 

"I'd know if we did," said Ryo. "I know this system like the back of my hand. We're just getting weird Digimon today." 

"Do you mean, there were more than one?" Jenrya asked, curious in spite of himself. 

"That's what I'm picking up," said Ryo. "One showed up earlier today, but the signal was really faint. I wasn't even sure at first that it was for real. That's it there." 

He pointed at a blurry patch on the screen, and Takato squinted to get a better look at it. It looked more like static than a Digimon to him. 

"I've never seen such a weak signal from a fully-grown Digimon before," Ryo continued, "but the readings say it's at the same level as our partners. I'm thinking it must be injured. It hasn't moved in a long time... it could be nearly dead, for all we know." 

"One would assume it's hiding," said Mr. Lee. "That's what any wild animal would do, if it found itself sick or injured, and trapped in a strange place. What is the other one doing?" 

"That's what I'm trying to find out," Ryo replied. "I'm not getting a very good reading, but it looks like whatever it is, it's right about... here." He jabbed a finger at the screen. 

"That's a residential district," Jenrya commented. "You'd think someone might have noticed by now." 

"That's what I'm afraid of," his father replied. 

"I wish I could get a lock on the darn thing," Ryo muttered. He glared at the screen, as if he suspected it of going against his wishes on purpose. "Then again, our scanning power isn't up to much right now... maybe it just can't handle trying to process two Digimon at once. I'm not sure we've ever had two emergences on the same day. Mind if I filter one out?" 

"Be my guest," said Mr. Lee. 

"Right." He flicked his hand, and one of the blurs of static disappeared. Instantly, the other came into sharper focus. "Hey, presto! Am I good or what?" 

"Yeah, yeah, have a cookie," said Terriermon. "Now what, genius?" 

"We get a closer look at this Digimon," said Ryo. "The readings are still weird - whatever this thing is, it's not like anything we've ever seen before." 

"Right," said Jenrya. "We'd better give Ruki a call, too. She's going to want to see this." 

"You mean she hates being left out of anything important," said Ryo with a grimace. "All right, all right, I'll send her a message, and she can meet us on the way over. Want me to head on out?" 

"You do that," said Jenrya. "The rest of us will catch up. You keep the thing from getting away." 

"Roger. Over and out." Ryo's image abruptly flickered, and then vanished completely. A moment later, Monodramon did the same. Mr. Lee shook his head. 

"It amazes me every time he does that," he said. 

"He's just showing off," said Jenrya. "Keep an eye on things here, would you, Dad?" 

"I'll be glad to," his father replied. 

"Thanks. I'm on my way out." 

Jenrya turned and began jogging for the door, with Terriermon perched on his shoulders, ears streaming like the tails of a scarf. Takato scampered after him. Jenrya stopped so suddenly he almost crashed into him, and Takato had to flail wildly to keep from losing his balance. 

"Where do you think you're going?" Jenrya inquired. 

Takato regarded him with puzzlement. "I'm going with you." 

Jenrya shook his head. "Bad idea. What if you lose control of Guilmon again? Then we'd have two troublesome Digimon to deal with instead of just one. Sorry, but until you have more training, you're just going to slow us down." 

"How am I supposed to learn anything if you won't let me do anything?" Takato demanded. 

"We'll work something out, but now is not the time. Just wait until we get back, or go home. I have to go now." 

He turned and hurried off again. Terriermon flapped an ear at him. 

"Bye-bye!" 

Takato stared for a moment. Then, with a cry of frustration, he turned and kicked the wall over and over until his toes ached. Hot tears coursed down his face, not just from the pain. He pressed his forehead to the cool metal of the walls and sobbed out his frustrations, until Guilmon came up and nuzzled him. 

"What's wrong, Takato? Are you hurt? Are you sick, Takato? Your eyes are leaking." 

"I'm okay," said Takato, trying to pull himself together. "I'm just... I'm really angry." 

Guilmon's ears flicked. "Angry? What is 'angry'?" 

"It's... it's hard to explain," he said. "It's what you feel when everyone is wrong and they won't listen to you." 

"I listen." 

"I know," said Takato. He put his arms around Guilmon's neck and hugged him. "Sometimes I think you're the only one who understands." 

Guilmon whuffled in his ear, tickling him until he almost laughed. He smiled quiveringly. 

"It'll be okay, Guilmon," he said softly. "I made a promise... I promised I wouldn't let anyone take you from me, no matter what..." 

He sighed. He hoped devoutly that there wasn't anything else to "no matter what" that he hadn't found out about yet.

* * *

A door swung open, and Fukunaga looked up, momentarily dazzled by the shafts of afternoon sunlight that were streaming into the dim room. There was a dark shape in the doorway, the shape of a man in a dark suit and dark glasses, hazily outlined by the strong light. He was breathing harshly, as if he had been running, and his hair was in disarray. 

"Yamaki, what do you think you're doing?" said Fukunaga, almost boredly. "This is no place to be behaving so recklessly." 

"Tell me you haven't started yet," said Yamaki. 

"I have no idea what you're talking about." 

"You know exactly what I'm talking about," Yamaki snapped. "Your idiotic X program. Tell me you haven't launched it." 

"You're too late," said Fukunaga. "It's already up and running." 

"We agreed that you would consult with me before you released anything." 

"It was obvious you weren't going to agree." 

"I think I have every right to disagree with launching a potentially dangerous bit of bioprogramming into the city," Yamaki snapped. "Do you think it's not going to be dangerous just because you had a hand in making it?" 

"I think it will work," said Fukunaga, with fraying patience, "because we've already tested it extensively in the lab. You're just jealous because I'm making progress and you're not." 

Yamaki made an effort to rein in his temper. 

"I thought you said that your last project was a failure," he said. "Convince me that this one is better." 

"The last project _was_ a failure. We could never get the wards to install properly. Even if _you_ hadn't let it get stolen, it still never would have worked, because we never would have been able to control the thing. The last thing this world needs is Digimon who can think for themselves." 

"That's the only thing you've said all day that makes sense," Yamaki muttered. "You're absolutely _positive_ that this thing will function the way it's supposed to?" 

"It passed all the lab tests with flying colors. This is the final test." 

"Test?" 

"We have to see how it will function in the outside world. We sent it into an area where there aren't many people to see it if it malfunctions - which it won't. It's just a small one. No one will notice." 

"We'll see about that," Yamaki muttered. 

"Look, I'm going to say this again, and maybe it will sink in this time. _My_ job is to deal with Digimon. Your job is to catch that DREAD act and keep them out of my hair. You do your job and I'll do mine, and we'll both be happy." 

"We'll see about that," said Yamaki.

* * *

Ruki encountered Jenrya on a street corner, and they stopped to compare notes. 

"I got Ryo's message," she said. "What's up?" 

"Stray Digimon," answered Jenrya succinctly. 

"Well, I know _that_," she snapped. "What's the big emergency? He made it sound like we're having a mass invasion or something." 

"You know Ryo and his flair for drama," said Jenrya. "As far as we know, we're just going to check out one random Digimon. There's just... something weird about it." 

Ruki shrugged. "Well, let's get it over with." 

"Guess we'd better," said Jenrya. "Where's Renamon? Isn't she with you?" 

"You ought to know by now that I'm always somewhere nearby," said a voice behind him. Terriermon gave a yelp and fell off Jenrya's shoulder in surprise. 

"Don't do that!" Terriermon protested, trying to untangle himself from his ears. 

"That's what you get for asking obvious questions," said Ruki. "Renamon, which way is the Digimon?" 

The fox-Digimon stared off into the distance, flicking her tail thoughtfully. 

"That way," she said at length, "but... Jenrya is right. There is something odd about this Digimon. It is subtle, but... I do not recognize it." 

"Interesting," said Ruki, her eyes glinting. "Now I have to have a look at this. Let's go." 

Renamon launched herself forward, seeming to blur into a streak of gold, and Ruki raced after her. Jenrya and Terriermon had no choice but to follow along as best they could. 

Eventually they reached a complex of seedy-looking storefronts and run-down buildings. There didn't seem to be a lot of people around... but that could have been because there was currently a small battle waging in the middle of the street. Some kind of metallic dinosaur, a heavy gray quadruped with dull steel plates on its back, was stomping around in the street. Ryo's Monodramon was darting around him, hovering on his small wings, occasionally diving in to scratch or bite at his enemy's tough hide. So far, his efforts didn't seem to be having much of an effect. The other monster bellowed and chopped at him with a massive blade that perched on the end of its nose. Monodramon was too quick to be struck by the edge, but its broad sides were enough to bat him around like a tennis ball against a racquet. Every time the blade hit the pavement, it left deep cracks in the asphalt. 

"Um," said Terriermon. "Maybe we oughta just leave this one alone." 

"Are you saying we ought to just leave it here to be captured and deleted?" Jenrya asked. 

"Better it than us!" 

"We can't leave it here," said Ruki. "It's making a mess, and odds are we'll get blamed for it. DREAD gets blamed for everything, these days. Where the heck is Ryo?" 

"Right here," a voice called. The group looked around until they saw a beckoning hand reaching out of a narrow alley. It was barely wide enough for a human being to hide in, so the rest of the group gathered around as best they could. 

"What are you doing back here?" Ruki demanded. "Shouldn't you at least be _trying_ to support your partner?" 

"I'm trying to get some accurate readings on that thing without getting my head cut off in the process," said Ryo. "This is a high-level Digimon, much stronger than ours. We're going to have to watch our steps with this one." 

"I've dealt with high-level Digimon before," said Renamon. 

Before anyone could stop her, she appeared to vanish in a blur of fur, and reappear in the street alongside the monster, blasting him with bursts of pure white light. It bellowed and pranced away from her, trying to find somewhere where it could avoid her, but it was trapped in the narrow street. 

"You just can't keep her out of a fight," said Ruki, her expression a mix of pride and concern. 

Jenrya just sighed and shook his head. "Terriermon?" 

"I know, I know, do what I can," said Terriermon. "You sure do ask a lot of a guy, sometimes." 

"Just keep him occupied a while," Ryo said. "Renamon's probably right in thinking she can take care of the worst of it." 

"Whatever," said Terrerimon. He spread his ears and glided onto the battleground. The rest of the team watched in grave silence. 

"I hope we get this wrapped up soon," said Ryo. "Something about this doesn't feel right. I don't think I've ever seen a Digimon behave quite this violently before. It's like it's out of its mind." 

It was true. The strange Digimon barely seemed to feel the attacks that hit it, though it was already injured in one leg from where Renamon had landed a lucky strike. It roared in incoherent rage, slashing madly with its horn, and it seemed to be foaming slightly at the mouth. Its eyes glowed eerily. 

"Out of its mind..." Jenrya repeated softly, frowning. He raised his head sharply. "I just thought of something." 

"What?" asked Ruki curiously. 

"Guilmon," he said.

* * *

Guilmon was looking around, sniffing the air. Takato barely gave this behavior any notice, his mind being filled with too many other vital matters. He had decided he was fed up with DREAD, at least for today, and had decided that he was going to go back home and take Guilmon with him. It probably would have been hard to convince the little dinosaur to stay there all by himself, anyway. The most attention he gave to Guilmon's activities was to think that maybe some small animal had gotten into the shed somehow. Then Guilmon began to growl. 

"What is it, boy?" Takato asked. 

Guilmon didn't answer. He crouched low to the ground, muscles tense, eyes gleaming. Then, with a sudden snarl, he sprang forward and raced out the door, kicking boxes and machinery in all directions in his haste. Takato scrambled clumsily after him. He reached the door just in time to see Guilmon disappearing around a corner. 

"Guilmon! Come back!" Takato shouted, but there was no answer. He sprinted after him, panting for air as he tried to keep up, but he knew it was a lost cause. He stopped short on the corner, leaning against a lamp-post to catch his breath. Before him stretched a web of roads and intersections, all of them empty. Guilmon was gone.

* * *

"What has Guilmon got to do with anything?" Ruki demanded. 

"Not much. I mean, this just reminded me of him," said Jenrya. "When he saw Leomon for the first time, this is how he reacted - attacking without reason, not feeling any pain. What if this is another one like him? What if..." He went quiet. "What if they've finally perfected their Digimon destroyers?" 

"That can't be right," said Ruki. "Guilmon was the prototype, and we took him. There aren't any more." 

"They could have made some more," Ryo suggested. "Or maybe Guilmon wasn't the only prototype." 

Ruki looked sulky. "If there were more, the Advisor would have told us about it." 

"Maybe he didn't know," Jenrya said. 

Ruki didn't look like she wanted to believe that idea, and it was possible there would have been an argument about it if Guilmon hadn't shown up. He raced up the street and tackled the enemy Digimon from behind, leaping onto its back and raking his claws across it, making it roar in pain. The monster tossed its head wildly in an effort to shake him off. Guilmon clung tightly for as long as he could, but was eventually thrown. He hurtled through the air and crashed into a building. The monster lumbered toward him, apparently preparing to finish him off, but Renamon distracted it with another volley of white sparks. Guilmon shook himself, painfully dragged himself to his feet, and staggered back toward the battle again. 

"He's not too bright, is he?" Terrerimon commented, lobbing a volley of small fireballs at the creature's face. 

"I believe he has no idea what he's doing," Renamon replied. 

"Hey, buddy, ease off!" said Monodramon, as Guilmon shoved him aside. "You're gonna get yourself hurt!" 

Guilmon's only answer was a snarl. He dove at the strange Digimon and clamped his jaws around the frill that covered its neck. Unfortunately for him, the plate was nothing more than skin and bone, impossible to hurt, and Guilmon was shaken and thrown again. One of the monster's heavy feet struck him, and he was kicked several yards away to lodge at the base of a building. He made a faltering effort to raise his head, groaned, and let it fall again. He was very still. The other Digimon stopped what they were doing to look at him. His outline was flickering, as if he were being viewed through a television with bad reception. Very slowly, little bits of data began to trickle away...

* * *

"He's lost," said Takato. "I lost Guilmon." 

He stared helplessly at the empty streets, feeling tears pricking at his eyes. He had promised he would look after Guilmon and keep him safe, and now he was gone. 

_They were right, after all,_ Takato thought miserably. _I really couldn't take care of him..._

He knew one thing for sure - he was in trouble now. How was he going to tell the others from DREAD that he'd managed to lose his partner? He was sure none of them had ever done anything like this. And what if Guilmon did something bad while he was out wandering around alone? Takato still had a hard time that Guilmon would purposely attack someone, but he was practically a baby - he didn't know how to get by in the big city, and would likely cause a panic just by being himself. 

_They'll think he's a wild animal, or - or a space alien or something. They'll try to lock him up, or kill him!_ he thought, panicked. _Either that or those government guys will find him and do experiments on him or something. I've got to find him - but how?_

Well, it was probable he could find out where Guilmon was just by listening to the news, but that would probably give him the information too late to do anything about it. After some hard thinking, he came to the conclusion that probably the only people who had the equipment to find lost Digimon in a hurry were the government and DREAD. Like it or not, he was going to have to ask for help. With a sigh, he turned and began walking back in the direction of the storage shed, thinking glumly that maybe he could convince Mr. Lee not to tell the others about this if they could clear this up quickly. He shoved his hands in his pockets, and encountered something hard and plastic-smooth. 

_Now, there's an idea,_ he thought, feeling a sudden flicker of hope. 

He took out his D-Ark and studied it thoughtfully. He knew the others had been talking about being able to track each other through these things. Maybe he could use his to find Guilmon. He tapped tentatively at the buttons, wishing he'd thought to ask someone their purpose. The machine made a few beeping noises, but otherwise did nothing useful. Just when he was about to give up, the machine gave a _blip_, and suddenly a circle appeared on the screen, with an arrow on it that swung around like the needle on a compass. 

"All right! Now we're talking!" he exclaimed. "Hang on, Guilmon! Here I come!"

* * *

"Uh-oh, we have problems," said Jenrya. 

"Yeah, our Digimon are getting pounded," said Ruki. 

"Not that," he said. "Guilmon. He's phasing out. We're going to lose him in a minute if someone doesn't do something." 

"Never mind that. Ryo can catch him," Ruki replied. "Worry about your own partner." 

It was true that they were not doing well. Whatever they were fighting, it seemed to have been driven even wilder by the knowledge that one of its enemies was nearing expiration, and it was all the other Digimon could do to keep it from moving in for the kill. Monodramon had already sustained a nasty injury to one wing, and Renamon was favoring one leg from where she'd landed awkwardly after a fall. At the moment, Terriermon was fending off disaster mainly by sitting on the beast's nose and covering its eyes with his long ears. It was doubtful how long he was going to be able to hang on, and the other two were doing what they could to get the unresponsive Guilmon to safety before Terriermon lost his grip on the situation. 

"I get the feeling we're wasting our time," Renamon muttered, as she tried to haul Guilmon to his feet. He responded with all the vitality of a wet noodle. 

"We can't just leave him," Monodramon protested, but not very hard. His wing was hurting him badly already, and Guilmon was heavier than he looked. It would have been much easier to let Ryo deal with it all. 

There was a squeal from Terriermon, as he was flung into the air. He caught himself in midair, letting his ears support him like a parachute, and glided gently back to earth. Finally free of hindrance, the monster looked around for its prey. 

It saw a boy come out of a side street. Takato staggered to a stop, breathing heavily after his long run, and stopped to take in the situation. He looked up to see the grey dinosaur lumbering towards the place where Guilmon had fallen. 

"Takato! What are you doing here?" Jenrya called. "I thought I told you to stay behind!" 

"But... Guilmon..." Takato protested breathlessly. 

There was a slight stirring: Guilmon was waking up. He opened his eyes, and for a few seconds, they focused on the boy in the alley. 

"Ta... ka... to...?" he whispered. 

The monster's attention snapped back to Guilmon. It roared and reared up on its hind legs, pumping at the air with its forefeet like a wild stallion, slashing at the air with its horn. Then the blade began to descend, straight at Guilmon. 

"No!" Takato shouted. Without thinking, he dove, thinking only of trying to push Guilmon out of the way before it was too late. 

Afterwards, he knew it could have only taken a second or two, but while it was happening, it seemed to happen in slow motion. He was aware of the fall of the blade, the gleam of light off its edge as it swung closer to him. Then there was a flare of red light and heat, as if a fire had sprung up only inches away, and he saw Guilmon become suddenly engulfed in a cocoon of glowing lines. Then there was a flash and a roar, and the blade stopped. 

It stopped because a much larger dinosaur had appeared out of nowhere and clamped hold of it. 

"What in the...?" Jenrya exclaimed. 

"Well, I'm impressed," Ryo murmured. 

The new dragon was certainly impressive. It stood a good thirty feet high, with powerful limbs and a long lashing tail. Its arms were tipped with scythe-like blades, and a mane of white fur sprung form its head. Other than that, it looked remarkably like Guilmon. 

"Is that you, Guilmon?" asked Takato faintly. 

If it was Guilmon, he didn't answer. He let out a roar that rattled the windowpanes and made Terriermon clamp his paws over his sensitive ears, and even the unflappable Renamon flinched. Takato cringed and scampered to the safety of the alley where his companions were hiding. 

"What just happened? Where's Guilmon?" he demanded. 

"That _is_ Guilmon, genius," said Ruki. "Only it isn't, exactly." 

"He's evolved," said Jenrya, a bit more gently. "It's something Digimon do, sometimes. It's nothing to worry about." 

"_That's_ nothing to worry about?" Takato asked, waving at the battlefield. 

The gray Digimon was still struggling to free itself from its enemy's grip, but Guilmon was having none of it. With a great straining of muscles, he lifted his opponent straight up off the ground and began whipping it around over his head. He let fly with a mighty heave, and the strange Digimon sailed through the air like a falling comet, striking the pavement so hard it actually sank in a foot or so. It groaned and twitched feebly before finally vanishing in a swirl of grayish sparks. 

"Ryo, catch it!" Ruki ordered. 

"Why do I have to do everything?" Ryo complained. 

Nevertheless, he held up his right hand, as if gesturing for the creature to stop whatever it was doing. Instead, the sparks began moving faster, pulling themselves into a long ribbon of silvery light that rushed towards his wrist and sunk into his skin. Ryo stood frozen, sweat beading on his face as he continued to draw the data into his system. When the last of it was gone, he dropped to his hands and knees, gasping for air. Jenrya knelt next to him. 

"Are you okay?" he asked. 

"One of these days," he said, "I'm going to find a way to make you guys do this and see how you like it." 

"Guys, I think we have bigger problems than that," said Ruki. 

Her eyes were fixed on Guilmon, who was standing in the middle of the street, head raised to the sky, eyes blazing. He roared again and blasted flames from his mouth, filling the air with heat and smoke. 

"Hey, cool it!" Takato protested, as he jumped away to avoid being singed. 

Guilmon looked downwards. His gaze fell on the other Digimon, who were watching him intently, and he growled low enough to make the ground vibrate. He blasted fire at them, forcing them to dodge - Renamon snatched the smaller Digimon into her arms and leaped to safety. She landed on her bad leg and stumbled. Guilmon stomped forward as if intending to crush them all under one of his enormous feet. 

"Guilmon, no!" Takato protested, running forward. "You can't do that!" 

Guilmon flicked his ears and snorted smoke. He did not look very impressed. He took a deep breath, and bits of flame began gathering around the edges of his mouth. 

"I said, _NO!_" 

Takato whipped out his Digivice and held it up, and once again, beams of light shot from it to wrap around his partner like clinging vines. Guilmon froze in his tracks, startled. 

"Stop it! Just stop it right now!" Takato scolded. "You can't keep acting like this! These are your friends, and you can't just keep attacking everything you see. I - I won't allow it! I am your Tamer, and I'm telling you, you've got to behave! Now, leave them alone, and - and get small again, like you're supposed to be." 

Guilmon hesitated. Then, slowly, his outline began to blur, until his exact shape was indistinguishable. The cloud of data gradually shrank, until all that was left was Guilmon, lying in an attitude of utter exhaustion on the broken pavement. Takato walked hesitantly to his side and rested a hand on his head. 

"Are you okay now?" he asked. 

Guilmon's eyes slid open. "I feel funny. What happened?" 

"You just got caught in a fight," Takato told him. "You'll feel better after you rest a while." 

"Okay," said Guilmon, and he closed his eyes and went to sleep. Within a few seconds, he was snoring. 

"Well, I'm glad that worked out," said Ruki dryly. "What the heck are you doing here? You ought to know better." 

"I do," said Takato. "I mean, I didn't come out looking for a fight - it's just that Guilmon ran away, and I had to chase after him." He frowned. "I... I really can't control him all that well. If I could control him like you control your Digimon, this wouldn't have happened." 

"And if Guilmon hadn't come and bailed us out, maybe our partners would be dead right now," said Jenrya. "Besides, Guilmon is different from our Digimon - different from any other Digimon there is, maybe. That's not your fault." 

"So what was that when he changed?" Takato asked. "Or evolved, or whatever you call it." 

"Like I said, it happens to most Digimon, at some point in their lives," said Jenrya. "They change into another, stronger kind of Digimon. Sometimes its permanent, and sometimes it wears off after a while. None of ours can do it, though." 

"Humph," said Ruki. She was scowling at Takato as if she suspected him of having a Digimon stronger than hers on purpose. 

"And Guilmon's only a few days old," Ryo mused. "I've never seen one evolve that young - not to such a high level. We're going to have to look into this more closely. And speaking of high-level Digimon, can we get back to the base so I can upload this thing? You have no idea how uncomfortable this is." 

It was true that he looked uncomfortable. He wasn't gasping and sweating anymore, but little electrical-looking lights were playing across his skin, as if tracing paths of circuitry. It made Takato a little queasy to look at it. 

"Right," said Ruki. "Let's get back to the base." She gave Guilmon a long, hard stare. "And then we're going to do some tests."

* * *

"Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant." 

Fukunaga glared at Yamaki. "I don't like your tone of voice." 

"I don't like your choice of tactics," Yamaki replied. He tapped a finger on the terminal where they had, until recently been observing the battle of the Digimon. It had gone snowy after the defeat of the X-Digimon, since the tracking program they'd installed in it couldn't run after the Digimon itself was destroyed. "Obviously your Xs aren't as superior as you've been telling me. Of course, I had already guessed that..." 

"Shut up," Fukunaga snapped. His face had turned a brilliant shade of red that looked quite odd with his orange hair. "It worked just fine. It did what it was supposed to do." 

"Yes, until it was destroyed," Yamaki countered. He was enjoying himself; this was the first time in ages he'd seen something of Fukunaga's go wrong, and he intended to play it up for all it was worth. It was time the man got a little of his own back. 

Fukunaga glared. "It wouldn't have been destroyed if it hadn't been for those DREAD people, and they're _your_ responsibility." 

"It was destroyed because it met a stronger Digimon," Yamaki said. "That would have happened regardless, I should think. However... however, you have given me an idea. Perhaps you are not totally without worth, after all." He turned around and began striding out the door. 

"Hey, where are you going?" Fukunaga demanded. 

"I am going to have a little talk with your supervisor," Yamaki said. "It is possible you can be of some use to me, for a change." 

"I am not here to be useful to you! You're supposed to be answering to me!" Fukunaga shouted, but it was too late. Yamaki had left the room and slammed the door behind him. 

Outside, Yamaki paused to get his thoughts in order; there was something about dealing with Fukunaga that raised his blood pressure. Oh, well. He'd be rid of the man as soon as he'd dealt with this annoying DREAD matter, and that might be very soon. He had just seen a weak point in their defenses, and soon he'd know all he needed to know to stop them cold. 


	5. It Hurts

**

It Hurts

**

**

By: SilvorMoon

**

At first, he thought the voices were part of his dream. The Digimon had been sleeping for a while now, dreaming vaguely of dark rooms full of glittering lights and strange machinery, while people he couldn't see talked about things he didn't understand. These voices were different, though. They were high-pitched and childish, and spoke with hushed uncertainty. 

"What is it?" 

"Is it a cat?" 

"It can't be a cat, dummy. Cats have fur." 

"Well, it might be a cat. A weird cat." 

"It doesn't matter. I think it's dead." 

"It's not dead! It's still breathing, see?" 

Something poked him, and the Digimon came fully awake with a start. He was slow in recognizing his surroundings: he had, for that last few hours, been sleeping deeply underneath a table in a dark and empty room. Now things had changed, for the room was brightly lit, and there were people in it - human people. The Digimon sat up and stared at them. 

"Who the heck are you?" he demanded. 

Both of them reeled back at once. 

"It talks!" one exclaimed. It was a female, judging by her voice, which was the only thing the Digimon knew to judge by. 

"'Course I can talk," said the Digimon, annoyed. 

"Are you an _alien?_" asked the other human. 

"Nuh-uh. You stupid or somethin'? I'm a Digimon. Name's Impmon," the Digimon replied. "Now that we got that outta the way, you can answer _my_ question. Who are you?" 

"I'm Ai," answered the girl. "This is my brother Mako." 

"We're human beans," added the boy informatively. 

Impmon scratched his head. "Ya don't say. You sure are a lot smaller than the last humans I saw. You _sure_ you're human?" 

"We're just small 'cause we aren't grown up yet," said Ai. "What about you? You're smaller than we are!" 

"Humph," said Impmon. "That ain't none of your business. Didn't anyone ever teach you not to make personal remarks? I'm s'posed to be this size, and that oughta be good enough for you." 

"Sorry," said the girl. 

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Mako asked. "Are you on a secret mission or something?" 

"Something like that," Impmon replied, "so I gotta go. See ya." 

He got up and began to stalk off. His posture of aloof disdain was ruined when his bad leg gave out under him, and he tipped headfirst into a pile of building blocks. He floundered around, snarling foul imprecations, until the two children came to haul him out. 

"You're hurt!" said Ai, noticing the wound on his leg for the first time. "It's okay! We'll make it better!" 

Impmon watched, amazed, as the two humans went scampering off. A few moments later, they returned, with one carrying a damp rag and the other holding a small box. Ai knelt beside him and pressed the cloth to his injuries. 

"Yow! That smarts!" Impmon yelped, jerking away. 

"Hold still. I've gotta make it clean, or you'll get an invection," said Ai. "That's what mommy always tells me." 

Impmon bowed to this inarguable point and allowed her to wash his wound. When she was done, Mako pulled a fistful of paper-wrapped bandages from the box and managed to painstakingly get two of them onto the target, while the rest of them became affixed to Mako's fingers, clothing, and the carpet. 

"There!" Ai declared. "All better!" 

"Humph," said Impmon. It was his opinion that it might take more than that to make everything "all better" but his pride wouldn't allow him to admit that. He attempted to climb to his feet, but was once more accosted by two human children. 

"Don't go away yet!" said Mako. "Can't you stay just a little while? Please?" 

"Please?" Ai echoed. 

Impmon hesitated. Small children with pleading eyes had been outside of his experience until now, and he wasn't adequately equipped to deal with them. He tried to stare them down, but found his will inexplicably weakening, and he was finally forced to look away. He shook his head. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to stay here - at least until his leg healed up. 

"All right, all right," he said. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to hang out here for a little while. But just a little while, so don't go gettin' any ideas!" 

The children cheered and hugged him, which was not a particularly enjoyable experience, since he was still sitting on a pile of wooden building blocks, and also because they weren't all that careful about his injured leg. Still, he bore this abuse stolidly, telling himself it was nowhere near as bad as what he'd get back in the outside world. At least they weren't actively _trying_ to hurt him, and that was an improvement on many aspects of his old life. 

"Are you hungry?" asked Mako. "Do you want something to eat?" 

"You should eat something, so you can get better," said Ai authoritatively. 

"Sounds good to me," said Impmon offhandedly. He realized that he hadn't eaten anything since yesterday, and he was ravenous. 

"Okay!" said the children. They scampered off, presumably in the direction of food. 

Impmon settled back and attempted to make himself comfortable. He reviewed the facts. He seemed to have blundered into another world by accident, and he had no idea how to go about getting out of it - but that didn't look like it was going to be a problem, since he also seemed to have accidentally blundered into a nice safe place to hide. There were soft places to sleep here, and presumably there would be food in a few minutes, if the bumping and clattering noises he was hearing down the hall were any indication, and a couple of human beings who seemed prepared to attend to his every need for him. 

_I did pretty good when I landed here,_ he thought. _I could maybe get used to this..._

The children returned. One had a half a box of cookies clutched under his arm; the other had seized two apples and a banana from a fruit dish. They laid out these offerings before him, and watched happily as he seized one of the fruits and began attacking it. He ate the banana, peel and all, and started in on the apples. 

"Is it good?" Ai asked him. 

"Ish ahh ite," said Impmon with his mouth full. He took an enormous gulp to free up his mouth again. "Hey, I had an idea while you were gone. See, I'm looking for me a human partner. Every Digimon's s'posed to have one. I was just thinkin', if I was to find myself a partner here, I wouldn't have to leave, so..." 

"Can _we_ be your partners?" asked Mako. "Both of us?" 

"Please?" asked Ai. She was giving him that big-eyed stare again. 

"Well..." he said. "I don't guess it would hurt. It's okay by me if it's okay by you." 

"Yeah!" they cheered. They hugged him again, which was nearly as uncomfortable as the first time, but he was starting to adjust to it. He emerged from his captivity feeling half- smothered and more than a little squashed, and it took him a moment to get his bearings. He became aware of a sense of pressure, and he looked, thinking he had managed to sit on another building block. Instead, he found a small device cased in purple plastic. It was glowing softly. 

"Guess this makes it official," he said quietly, awed a little in spite of himself. 

"Ooh, that's pretty!" said Ai. "Let me see it!" 

"No, me! I wanna look at it!" 

Distracted by this new arrival, the two children forgot all about Impmon and went into a squabble over the device. Impmon sighed a little and wondered just what he'd gotten himself into.

* * *

Takato once again found himself sitting and watching, as activity swirled around him. He was too drained to let it worry him much. Enough had happened to him today; he could let other people have the action and leave him out of it. 

At the moment, most of said action was happening to Guilmon, who had been hooked up to a variety of wires affixed to every part of his body, forcing him to hold unnaturally still while a computer processed readings under Jenrya's watchful eye. Nearby, Ryo had likewise plugged himself into a machine and was uploading the data from the Digimon he'd caught, while Mr. Lee watched the process with interest. Ruki was the only one who was not doing anything particularly constructive; she was leaning against the wall and staring off into space, apparently lost in a world of her own. She didn't even flinch when Guilmon, startled by something, jumped and pulled several of his wires loose, causing sparks to shower and the computer to bleep in protest. 

"Now look what you've gone and done," said Jenrya. "Now we're going to have to start all over." 

"Sorry," said Guilmon, letting his ears droop. "Something poked me!" 

"I wonder what that could have been?" asked Terriermon, doing his best to look innocent. 

Jenrya shot him a glare. 

"Aw, c'mon," said Terriermon. "He looked funny all trussed up like that!" 

Jenrya sighed and did what he could about getting all his wires back in place. 

"I hope you guys are having better luck than we are," he said, in the direction of his father and Ryo. 

"We're getting there," said Ryo. He unplugged the cable from his wrist and stretched. "Have I told you already how much trouble this is?" 

"Once or twice," said Terriermon. "Or three times, or four, or five, or..." 

"Enough," said Jenrya. It wasn't certain whether he was talking to Terriermon, to Ryo, or both. 

"These initial results, though, are quite interesting," said Mr. Lee, who was bending over a nearby computer screen. It was littered with numbers and symbols, most of which were scrolling by so quickly that Takato wouldn't have been able to make heads or tails of them even if the actual words were something he could have understood. "I've never seen a Digimon quite like this one before. It's not just a matter of parameters; the entire program is a drastic change from your average Digimon." 

"So what you're saying," said Ruki, entering the conversation for the first time, "is that this thing, whatever it is, isn't even exactly a Digimon." 

"Not in the sense they were originally conceived, no," Mr. Lee replied. "I want to look at this more closely..." 

"How about you look at it later?" asked Jenrya, only half-joking. "You've been here too long as it is. Mom will be going crazy." 

"You're the one who told me to stay," his father replied, but he began gathering his things to leave anyway. 

"Don't worry, Mr. Lee," said Ryo. "I'll wire the files to your home computer. You can play with them there all you want. I'll look them over, too, and see if I can get any ideas." 

"I'd appreciate that," the man replied. "Goodbye, all." 

He waved to everyone and headed for the exit. Ruki sighed. 

"I'm going home, too," she said. "There's nothing else for me to do here. Give me a call as soon as you've got anything to report." 

"Will do," said Jenrya, his eyes still on the screen. It looked like he might actually get some results this time, if Terriermon didn't continue to intervene; Guilmon appeared to have gotten bored with the whole situation and gone back to sleep. "Might be a while, though, so don't go holding your breath." 

"We'll work it out between the two of us - don't worry!" said Ryo. "You go home and chill." 

"I never chill," said Ruki. She shifted her gaze to Takato, who was shifting from foot to foot as he watched the others work. "You should go home, too. We don't need your help to do this." 

Takato scowled. "You needed my help a little while ago." 

"Humph," said Ruki, turning away. "_Fine,_ then. If you think you're so hot, you can sit here and supervise, or whatever it is you think you're doing." 

She stomped off. Renamon followed her, her ears tilted in an expression that looked like concern. 

"What'd I say?" asked Takato. 

"It's hard to say," Jenrya answered calmly. 

"Oh, come on," said Ryo, rolling his eyes. "You know as well as I do what's going on. She's ticked off because up until now, Renamon has been the strongest of the tamed Digimon. She can't stand it that some new guy who only heard of Digimon a few days ago is outstripping her. Never mind that you barely know what you did, much less how you did it..." 

"I didn't do anything! It was all Guilmon," said Takato. 

Jenrya shook his head. "That's not what I saw. You did seem to have some control over what happened. Guilmon evolved because of you, and you got him back under control yourself. You do have some kind of knack as a Tamer." 

"And she's mad at me because it turns out I'm good at this after all?" Takato said. "I thought she was mad because I'm not a good Tamer to begin with." 

"It's not that you're good," said Ryo. "I'm awesome, and she doesn't care one way or another. She's mad because she's afraid you might turn out to be better than her." 

"But I'm not!" said Takato. 

"Then you have nothing to worry about," said Ryo. "But you might as well go home anyway. Don't you have parents or something who might wonder about you?" 

"Oh yeah. Right," said Takato. "Look after Guilmon for me, won't you?" 

"Sure, always," Ryou agreed. 

"Well, then... see ya," he said. 

"Bye," said Jenrya. "Hey, I've got my karate lessons tomorrow, but I'll see you in school on Monday, okay? I'll tell you how the results of this test turn out." 

"Okay! See you then." Somehow, that made him feel a lot better. He patted the sleeping Guilmon on the head, who snored a little in response, and began heading for the door. It surprised him a little that he was actually able to remember how to get back to the entrance. 

_Maybe I am getting the hang of this,_ he thought. _Maybe I really can be a Tamer..._

* * *

Some people stayed home from work on Sunday, but not Yamaki - not when he was on a roll. He was surrounded by printouts, forms, and data disks, and was in a better mood than he had been in several weeks. It would take some time to pull together everything he needed and get all the permissions from the higher-ups, but he finally had a plan to deal with DREAD, and he wasn't going to stop working on it until he had it ready. 

_That will put Fukunaga in his place. Show me up, will he? Two can play at this game..._

He knew DREAD's weakness, now. He had suspected before, but watching the recording of the Monodramon X being destroyed had solidified the idea in his mind: one of the members of DREAD was a Cypher. That in itself was useful knowledge, but now he had an idea of how to employ that knowledge, as well. Just before the X Digimon had lost all its coherency, there had been a voice just audible in the background. It was just a small comment, but it was all Yamaki needed to hear to crack this case wide open. 

Of course, having an idea and implementing it were two different things. Before he could set things in motion, he would need a few permissions, and to make some changes on one of his old Cypher-blocking programs. That might take a few days, depending on how long it took to get adequate materials for his experiments. Time was of the essence, and so here he was on a Sunday, tweaking computer code in an empty building, while his fellow workers all played golf, or whatever it was they did on their days off. 

At least, he had assumed that he was the only one working. At most, he had thought that he might see a few of the cleaning staff bumping around, but none of his immediate co-workers. Hence, he was rather surprised to hear a knock on his office door. He ignored it for a moment before remembering belatedly that he didn't have a receptionist to answer it for him. He wondered if he should ignore it, but decided that if there was someone out there knocking, it could only be because they knew he was there and probably wouldn't go away until they got a response from him. He stomped over to the door and jerked it open. 

"I thought I'd find you here," said the woman at the door. 

"Ah... Reika," he said, momentarily nonplused. "What brings you here?" 

"Knowing that you were here," she answered. "Here. I brought you this." 

She pressed a box into his hands. He stared at it. 

"What's this supposed to be?" 

"Your lunch. You can give the box back tomorrow," she replied. "I've been watching you lately, and you haven't taken a lunch break in days, so I made this for you. You'll think a lot more clearly if you eat something." 

"Ah," he said again. "Well... thank you. That was... considerate of you." 

She gave him a wry smile. "I ought to hang around to make sure you actually eat it. I know how you are - you'll set it aside and forget all about it as soon as you get caught up in your work again." 

"I won't forget about it," he said. "I suspect you would find a way to make it come back and haunt me if I did." 

"I would," Reika replied. "So... is there anything else I can do for you?" 

"Not at the present," answered Yamaki, mildly distracted. Actually, he could think of a few things, but some of them weren't appropriate for a workplace discussion. It was striking him once again that she was a very attractive woman, and pleasant company. Any time she started showing a personal interest in him tended to inspire these kinds of thoughts, and he pushed them away. "It was good of you to think of me, though." 

"I try to do what I can," she answered. "I hate feeling useless, and there's so little I can really do..." 

"If I think of something, I'll let you know," he said. 

"All right, then... I guess I'll see you tomorrow," she said. "Don't overdo it, all right?" 

"I won't." 

"You're lying," she said, "but that's all right. I forgive you. Good luck." 

She gave a nod of farewell and walked off. He watched her a moment before resolutely turning away and shutting the door behind him. There were times for such distractions, but this wasn't one of those times. Right now, he had work to do, and the sooner he got it done, the sooner he could go back to the frail, neglected thing that passed for his social life. He returned to his desk and went back to tweaking code. He did eat his lunch, though, and reflected that Reika was not only a pleasant and attractive woman, she was also a good cook. Still, this was just one more incentive to get this disagreeable job over with. Yamaki wanted his life back... and if he had to take someone else's to do it, it was just one less annoying Cypher in the world.

* * *

Monday had an annoying habit of turning up once a week, whether Takato wanted it to or not. He usually didn't care for it, particularly when he knew there was a test coming up, but this weekend, he wished he could have had at least six more Sundays to get things done. Aside from Ryo calling him into DREAD HQ for training, his parents had ordered him to clean his room. Trying to find time enough to do everything at once had left him exhausted, and he hadn't felt at all like dragging himself out of bed to sit through another day of lessons. 

Nevertheless, he was able to reach the schoolyard at his usual time, a few minutes before the bell was set to ring, and he searched the playground to see who else was around. After a few minutes of searching, he was able to spot Jenrya lurking near the fence in the shade of some trees. Takato glanced around, as if afraid he thought someone might be watching him, and then tried to walk casually over to join him. 

"What are you looking so nervous about?" were the first words out of Jenrya's mouth. "Nobody's watching us _here_." 

"Oh," said Takato. 

"Never mind, it's okay," said Jenrya, sighing. "You'll get it all worked out after a while. Anyway, I heard you and Ryo got together yesterday for some training. How did that go?" 

"Not so good," Takato admitted. "We tried and tried, but we couldn't get him to evolve again. Actually, we can't get him to do much of anything. He thinks this is all some kind of big game we're playing." 

"Well, at least Ruki will be relieved," said Jenrya wryly. "Dad and I looked over the data for Guilmon's programming. It's definitely... different. You're really going to have to be on your guard. We don't have any way of predicting what he's going to do next." 

"Great," said Takato. "You mean he might lose it and run away again?" 

"He might," Jenrya allowed, "but from what I can tell just by a casual observation, he seems to respond well to your presence. The best thing I can tell you right now is just keep spending as much time with him as you can, and maybe he'll settle down a little. Maybe." 

"Is that all you found out?" asked Takato. 

"For now. We're still trying to straighten everything out. Dad's working on analyzing the data from that other weird Digimon we caught, too - when he's not trying to track down the people from his old organization. We've got our hands full right now!" 

"Okay, okay, chill!" said Takato, holding up his hands placatingly. "I was just asking." 

Jenrya managed to look sheepish. "Sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you. I was up late trying to help, and I'm a little irritable today. I wish I had Terriermon's way of coping." He poked his backpack, which snored softly in response. 

Takato laughed a little - and then quickly went serious again as he spotted something that needed his attention. 

"Here they come," he muttered. 

"Hm?" Jenrya glanced in the direction Takato was looking, and saw Hirokazu and Kenta making their way towards Takato. "Uh-oh. Looks like I'd better get going. Later!" 

"Hey, you don't have to-" Takato began, but it was too late. Jenrya had already hurried away. 

"Yo, Takato!" Hirokazu called, sidling over. "What's up? Who's that you were talking to?" 

"Erm, just a friend," said Takato. "Kind of a friend, anyway. We only met a couple of days ago." 

"Isn't he that weird kid who was watching us the other day?" Kenta asked. 

"Yeah," Takato replied. "We ran into each other after school and walked home together. He's really pretty nice, when you get to know him." 

"Is that where you've been all weekend?" Hirokazu asked. "Hanging out with him?" 

"Not exactly," said Takato. "Mom and Dad told me I couldn't go anywhere or do anything until I got my room cleaned up again. I told them it wasn't _my_ fault it's a mess, but they didn't listen." Well, that was true, as far as it went. They really had forced him to stay in his room until he'd proven it was clean. He had shoved all his dirty clothes in the laundry hamper and hidden everything else in the closet or in his desk until he had time to sort it all out. The whole operation had taken less than an hour, but he wasn't about to turn up his nose at a good excuse. 

"Is that so? Huh," said Hirokazu. His eyebrows were drawn together, as if he didn't quite believe what he was hearing. "I tried to call you Sunday, and your mom said you weren't home." 

Takato did his best to look righteously outraged. "They wouldn't let me talk on the phone until I was done." 

"You spent the whole weekend cleaning your room?" 

"It was a big mess! You saw it. It was on TV and everything." 

"Yeah, sure," said Hirokazu. "You know, you've been acting really weird ever since those guys broke into your house. Are you sure there's not something you're keeping from us?" 

"Why would I be keeping something from you?" 

"I don't know," said Hirokazu, "but something screwy's going on. You've barely talked to us in days, and now you're hanging out with a different crowd... I dunno, Takato. Looks to me like you're hiding _something_." 

"I'm not hanging out with a different crowd!" said Takato, flushing slightly. "Geez! I'm allowed to talk to people besides you, you know!" 

"Yeah, but you're not supposed to totally ignore us!" Hirokazu fired back. 

"What I think he's trying to say," said Kenta in a gentler tone, "is that we're worried about you. If there's something wrong, you can tell us." 

"There's nothing to talk about," said Takato. "Anyway, that's the bell - we'd better get to class." 

He shuffled off. Hirokazu tried to chase him, but Kenta held him back. 

"Let him go," he said. "If he doesn't want to talk to us, that's his business." 

"Yeah. Sure," said Hirokazu bitterly. He raised his voice. "I guess if he doesn't want to talk to his _best friends_..." 

Takato felt his stomach twist with guilt. 

_I'm sorry, guys... I'd tell you if I could. I really am still your friend..._

One thing was for certain: ever since DREAD had entered his life, classes had risen to a whole new level of torture. Now, besides worrying about what fate had in store for Guilmon, he also had to worry about his friends getting involved. From where he sat, he could still see Hirokazu shooting him venomous glances. Kenta was looking like a puppy who had been scolded by his master, and kept looking from Hirokazu to Takato and back again, plainly unsure what he was supposed to do next. Takato couldn't blame him. The boys had squabbled before, but never had a real fight. This first breach of confidence was going to be difficult for all of them, and Takato was more clueless than Kenta when it came to figuring out what to do. 

_I can't tell them,_ he thought. _If I do, they'll think I'm lying anyway... And even if I could prove it, they'll be in danger along with me. I can't do that to them. But if I don't tell, Hirokazu might never forgive me. What do I do?_

His teacher stood at the front of the room and chattered, but she wasn't giving him any useful answers. He scribbled silently in his notebook, taking down her words without paying much attention to their meaning. His page looked painfully bare without any of his usual drawings on it. When the lunch bell rang, Hirokazu and Kenta went to sit with someone else, leaving Takato to chew silently on his lunch. He stared gloomily down at the picture on the lid of his lunch box without seeing anything. 

He was surprised out of his reverie by the sound of chair legs being dragged across the floor, and he looked up to see Juri standing next to him. 

"Do you want some company?" she asked. "You looked lonely." 

"Yeah," he said. "That would be good." 

She sat down. "I thought so. Why aren't you with Hirokazu and Kenta?" 

"Er... we kinda had a fight," Takato said. "Now they're mad at me, and I don't know what to do." 

"Oh, I'm sorry. That must be awful!" she said. "Is there anything I can do to help?" 

"Probably not," he answered regretfully. "See, it's like this - I've got a secret, a really big secret, and I can't talk about it to just anybody. If I tell Hirokazu and Kenta, they'll get in trouble, and it'll be my fault for telling them stuff they shouldn't know. I don't want to do anything that'll hurt them, because they're my best friends, you know? There are only a couple of people who do know, so I've been spending a lot of time with them, but now Hirokazu's gotten really jealous, because he thinks I like these other guys more than I like him, but he's wrong! The other people don't know me at all, and they're always talking down to me and getting mad at me for no reason, and I wish I could get away, but I _can't_. I know the secret, and now I'm stuck. I don't know what to do! I can't tell, but if I don't, I don't know how to get Hirokazu to trust me again." 

Juri listened to this rambling outpouring with eyes full of pity. 

"Are these other people very bad?" 

Takato thought about it, then shook his head. "Nah, not really. Some of them are pretty nice, most of the time. It's just... they're not my _friends_. Hirokazu and Kenta have been my best friends forever, and I don't want to lose them." He looked at her desperately. "Juri, you're smart - what do you think I should do?" 

"Well..." she said slowly, "if the secret will hurt someone, you should keep it. Just tell them what you told me - that you have a secret, but it will only cause trouble if they know it. I'm sure if they knew you were only trying to help..." 

"Hirokazu would try to find out," said Takato. "Then we'd all be in trouble anyway." 

"If they're really your friends, they should trust you," she said. 

"I guess," he said. "You trust me, anyway, right?" 

"Right," she said. "Would you trust me, even if you thought I was keeping a secret?" 

"Well, yeah, sure!" he said. 

She smiled gratefully. She looked like she was about to say something, but was interrupted by a sudden chiming from the intercom system. 

"Attention," said a voice, "will Miss Juri Katou please report to the office? Your parents are here to pick you up. I repeat: Miss Juri Katou, please report to the office..." 

"Oh, dear," she said. "I guess I'd better go. Bye, Takato." 

"Bye, Juri," he replied. "Hope everything's okay." 

"I hope so, too," she said. "Good luck." 

"You, too." 

On that slightly ominous note, Juri gathered her things and exited the room. Takato felt bereft. The one person who wasn't giving him a hard time, and someone had to snatch her away. 

_I've got nobody left,_ he thought. 

His best friends were blocked away from him, isolated by the secret that only he could carry. The others at DREAD were hardly more than teammates, at best. Juri trusted him, but even she couldn't hear what was really troubling him - he couldn't put someone as innocent as her in danger. If he told his parents, they would probably have everyone in DREAD arrested - and maybe him, too, for good measure. Even Guilmon, who loved and trusted him, was too naive to understand what he was going through. Takato looked around at the other children in the room, listening to them laughing and chattering with each other. They were having a good time. They had nothing else on their mind more important than schoolwork and chores and socializing. Just now, they felt like a totally alien species. Only a few days ago, he had thought that he was separate from them, that he was different. Now he knew better. 

_Now_ he knew what it was like to be absolutely alone.

* * *

The door to the computer room flew open with a _bang_ that echoed off of the slick metal surfaces of the room. Jenrya looked up with an expression that said he was expecting to find himself being attacked, and then relaxed slightly when he saw who it was. Takato had been storming around DREAD headquarters for nearly half an hour, looking for someone to complain to, and the delay had only served to build his anger and frustration up to the boiling point. 

"I want out!" he shouted. 

Terriermon blinked at him. "But you just came in!" 

"No, no, that's not it!" said Takato. "I mean, I want out of this - all of this!" He waved his hand around to indicate the lab, the computers, even Jenrya and Terriermon. "When does it all stop? I want my life back! When do I get to be normal again? When do I have to stop dodging my parents and lying to my friends and watching every move I make? A week ago, I had a decent, normal, boring life. I kept out of trouble, I had friends I could hang out with - heck, I almost had a girlfriend, and now it's all shot, and what I want to know is, when do I get to go back to the way things were?" 

He stood there, panting. He wasn't sure if everything he'd just said made any kind of sense, and just now, he didn't care. He didn't even want an answer to his questions, not if it was the kind of answer that explained everything rationally and sensibly so he couldn't argue anymore. What he really wanted was an exit he could bolt to. He did not want Jenrya to be sitting there watching him with that pitying look. 

"When do I get out?" Takato asked again, pleadingly. 

Jenrya just looked sadly back at him. "No one ever said you did." 

"But - but that's not fair," Takato protested. "I can't live like this. I _can't_. I'm just a kid! I don't even have a driver's license! Heck, forget that, I don't even know if I'm going to pass my high school exams! How can you expect me to help save the world when I don't even understand algebra!" 

"We never wanted this to happen to you." 

"And that's supposed to make it better?" asked Takato. "Am I just supposed to just shrug and say 'Oh, that's okay,' just because you guys let this happen to me by accident?" 

"Hey, wait a minute," said Jenrya, bristling a little. "It's not all our fault. You had a hand in this all along. You didn't have to take the egg from Ruki. Even after you took it, you had plenty of opportunities to get rid of it." 

"Yeah, but I didn't know what I was getting into!" Takato said. "I thought - I thought this would be _fun_. I didn't think it would mean having to give up so much..." 

"Aw, poor Takato," said Terriermon. "Poor baby doesn't like this game anymore. How about we play a new game, like 'grow up and catch a clue'?" 

"Quiet, Terriermon. You're not helping," said Jenrya. "Takato, I... I'm really sorry. I can only imagine how difficult this is for you, but you've got to hang in there. If nothing else, do it for Guilmon. He needs you, and he'd never understand if you left him now." 

Takato sighed. "I know, I know. I mean, I _love_ Guilmon. I promised I'd never let anything happen to him, and I want to keep my promise. I said I'd protect him no matter what it takes, but now... now I'm losing all the things I thought I'd never have to give up. I know I have to do it, but... it _hurts_." 

"Did something happen to you today?" asked Jenrya, sounding concerned. "You were all gung-ho about this the last time we talked. What happened?" 

"It's my friends, Hirokazu and Kenta. You've seen them - they're the ones I always hang out with on the playground," said Takato. "All my life, they've been my only real friends. Now I'm mixed up in this big thing - maybe the biggest thing that'll ever happen to me - and I can't tell them what's going on. They're mad at me, because they _know_ I'm keeping secrets from them. They think I've ditched them for someone else, and they're furious that I won't explain what's going on, and I don't blame them." He looked at Jenrya plaintively. "What did you do when this happened to you? How did you deal with your friends?" 

"Well..." said Jenrya, looking away, "the problem never really came up..." 

"What, don't you have friends?" 

Terriermon laughed. "And Jen says _I_ have no tact!" 

"I was never really much of a people person," said Jenrya. "Nobody really noticed when I stopped being less of one than usual." 

"Geez, I'm sorry," said Takato. 

"It's okay. It doesn't bother me. Terriermon's the best friend I could ask for - and Ruki and Ryo aren't bad once you get to know them. I don't get lonely," said Jenrya. 

"I wish I had your luck," Takato answered glumly. He sighed. "So that's it, then. I'm just not getting out." 

"Don't be so fatalistic," said Jenrya. "This isn't going to last forever. It's _not_. We won't let it. Someday we'll win, and everything will be _better_ than it was before. You've just got to keep believing that." 

"I'll try," said Takato. "Won't be easy, but I'll try." 

"I know," Jenrya replied. "In the meantime, I know it's not the same, but... Well, like I said, I'm not much of a people person, but... well, if you wanted to come over to my place sometime, I've got some pretty good video games." 

"I never was much good at video games." 

"I'd teach you." 

Takato thought about that for a while. 

"Are you trying to say you want to be friends?" he asked at last. 

Jenrya shrugged. "I don't know. I might not be all that good at it... but it's still been a long time since I've had someone to play video games with." 

"Oh, well," said Takato. "I could use some pointers, come to think of it. Hey, it'd be really fun if I could blow Hirokazu away next time we play, right?" 

Jenrya smiled. "Right! Hey, you haven't met the rest of my family, either. I have the cutest little sister..." 

"You mean the cutest little spoiled brat!" 

"Terriermon, just because she drags you around by the ears..." 

"Well, you never stop her!" 

"What am I supposed to tell her? Everyone is supposed to think you're a stuffed animal, remember?" 

"Tell her I'm collectible!" 

Takato laughed. "I think I'd like to meet your family." 

"Yeah, they're great," said Jenrya. "And maybe... maybe I could meet your friends? I mean, if we all hang out together, maybe they won't be so jealous." 

"Hey, that might work!" said Takato. "That's a good idea. Tomorrow I'll introduce them to you, if you want." 

"That would be nice," Jenrya replied. He thought for a minute. "Takato, why didn't you tell them the truth?" 

"What?" 

"Well, they want to know what you're doing, right? Why don't you just tell them?" 

"I couldn't do that," said Takato. "It would put them in danger, wouldn't it? I mean, I'm in enough trouble as it is - I don't want to hurt my friends, too. If I'm really their friend, I should protect them, right?" 

"I can't speak from experience," Jenrya said, "but I think if they're really _your_ friends, they'd want to be there for you. I think if they're angry at you, that might just be why. They want to be a part of whatever you're doing, even if it gets them in trouble." 

"Won't it get you guys in trouble, if I go telling your secrets?" 

"Well, I'm not saying you should tell _everybody_," said Jenrya, "but if you think you can trust them..." 

"I'll think about it," said Takato. "Hirokazu isn't all that good about keeping secrets... and Kenta is, but if I tell him, he's bound to say something to Hirokazu." 

Jenrya shrugged. "You know them better than I do. So, do you want to come over? We can let Guilmon out in my room. Even if he makes noise, everyone will just think it's my computer." 

"Sure, sounds great," said Takato. "You know, Jen, you give good advice. It's too bad you don't hang out much with people. You'd make somebody a pretty good friend." 

Jenrya smiled a little. "I guess we'll see, won't we?"

* * *

It was a small, plain room. There were no windows, and only one door, which was just now closed and locked. Even if it had been wide open, there was nothing beyond it but a narrow hallway that would lead someone to a number of armed guards long before they ever found escape. Inside the room, there was nothing but a small table, two chairs, and a bright light hanging from a cord in the middle of the ceiling. It shed its garish light on the room's only two occupants: a suited man with a thatch of red hair, and a young girl who quailed under his intense gaze. 

"I don't see why you're being so stubborn about this, girl," he said. 

"I don't want to betray my friend," she said. "He trusts me." 

"You won't be betraying him," the man replied. "You'll be _helping_ him. Trust me. As long as he's working for them, he's in danger. You can save him. All you have to do is listen to what I say, and everything will work out fine." 

"I'm scared." 

"That doesn't matter. It has to be done, and you're the perfect one to do it. You're Matsuda's friend. He won't suspect you." 

"I still don't know... What if I say something wrong? What if _they_ find out?" 

"We'll protect you. All you have to do is trust us, and if they start getting suspicious, let us handle it." 

The girl moistened her lips. Her eyes flicked back and forth, as if hoping that a way out had appeared while she had been staring down at the floor. All she could see was the table, the glaring light, and the redheaded man. He gave her a smile that was not particularly reassuring. 

"I should tell you," he said, "we don't expect you to work without payment." 

A spark of anger showed in her eyes. "You think money is going to make me want to do this?" 

"Not money. Something much better. Something we know you want." 

"What?" 

"A cure." 

Her eyes widened, and the man smiled, knowing she was caught. 

"It's still in the experimental stages. We haven't finalized it yet. It's not available to just anyone, but if you're willing to help us out, we might just let you be one of the ones to test it. But we won't even show it to you if you don't cooperate, so you might want to think long and hard about giving us some help." 

She hesitated a moment. "You - you promise if I do this, Takato won't be hurt? You won't do anything to him?" 

"Of course not. We're just trying to help everyone. He'll be a lot safer once we've dealt with DREAD." 

"Well... if it will help Takato..." 

"It will..." 

"Then I'll do it." 

"Wonderful." He passed her a disk. "This will give you all the information you need. I trust you have suitable equipment to run this?" 

She gave a timid nod. "I don't like computers very much, but my father insisted..." 

"Fine. As long as you can run that program, you shouldn't have any problems. We'll take care of everything else. You can leave now." 

She got up and hurried for the door. On the way out, she passed a blonde man in dark glasses, but his ferocious expression was more than enough encouragement for her to get out of his way as quickly as possible. He watched her go as she fled up the hallway. 

"So," he said. "I'm too late." 

"You couldn't have stopped me even if you'd gotten here sooner," Fukunaga replied. "I've already gotten everything cleared away." 

"So I've heard," he said. "They brought me the news - after the fact, of course. What the devil do you think you're doing, dragging a child into this?" 

"It's a perfectly sound plan. You fight fire with fire. You fight children with other children. She's a friend of the boy who was given the egg. She can talk to him and find out what he's been doing and what he knows. She's perfectly placed to deal with these DREAD people." 

"But it's not your watch! It is _my_ job to deal with them, and I will. I already have a lead that is much less risky than you sending an ignorant little girl in to try to wheedle secrets out of them." 

"Yes, well, obviously you didn't set your oh-so-wonderful plan in motion fast enough, did you, Yamaki?" Fukuna taunted. 

"This is not your department! You were supposed to worry about the Digimon, and I was supposed to deal with DREAD!" Yamaki ranted. "Why aren't you doing your job? You're not even trying to get your own work - you're too busy trying to prove your superiority to me! And you're not doing a very good job of it if the best thing you can scrape up is a child." 

"Oh, she's not all I've got," said Fukunaga. 

Yamaki raised an eyebrow. "Oh? What else do you have?" 

"I'm not going to tell you." 

"You realize that if you don't tell me, we could wind up seriously interfering with each other's plans?" said Yamaki. 

"Then maybe," Fukunaga replied, "you should remember who is in charge here, and rethink your plans." 

"And I think you should remember exactly what you're in charge of," said Yamaki. "I have my job, and I will continue to do it as I see fit. I suggest you reconsider your priorities." 

He turned on his heel and stalked off, fuming. He would show this man to steal his job! All he needed was a little time. It was time he would probably have, too, because there was no way this hare-brained scheme could work. There was nothing a trembling little girl could do against a menace like DREAD... 

**

To Be Continued

**


End file.
